T-Mobile confirms: we will start selling Apple products in 2013

This is interesting. Even though it claimed it couldn’t afford the iPhone due to Apple’s stringent terms of business and the billions required in upfront subsidy, Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA, the nation’s fourth-largest, has confirmed an agreement to start carrying some mobile products from Apple beginning with next year.

Though the carrier did not specifically confirm the long-expected iPhone distribution agreement, this development is the best indication yet that T-Mobile USA stands poised to finally land the iconic Apple smartphone and tablet on its network in 2013… 

Writing for AllThingsD, Ina Fried points us to a press release with Deutsche Telekom’s Rene Obermann announcing the Apple/T-Mobile partnership made to analysts earlier today.

“T-Mobile USA has entered into an agreement with Apple to bring products to market together next year,” Deutsche Telekom said in a press statement on Thursday.

A spokesperson additionally told The Loop that “additional details will be made available at a later date”.

T-Mobile USA offers some nice and free support to unlockers, it sells Nano SIMs and already hosts about 1.5 million unlocked iPhones. Additionally, the carrier’s been rolling out its iPhone-friendly HSPA+ network to more and more places in the United States.

Upgrading its towers to the 1900 MHz GSM band, the same radio frequency used by AT&T and compatible with existing iPhone models, benefits owners of unlocked iPhones who can at last enjoy 3G/4G download speeds on the T-Mobile network.

And as T-Mobile transitions to an iPhone-friendly service and begins a nationwide transition to LTE following last year’s failed acquisition by AT&T, only now does an Apple partnership make sense as the T-Mobile network is becoming fully compatible with Apple’s 3G/4G mobile devices.

Analyst were previously calling for a deal with Apple in 2013, with Merrill Lynch’s Scott Craig warning recently that “speculation is heightening” around Deutsche Telecom announcing the iPhone deal this week.

Is a T-Mobile iPhone really gonna become a reality in 2013?

And, can it change market dynamics concerning Android?