Rumor mill — wideband voice on mobile handsets by Christmas

There are a variety of people and at least three companies (Mindspeed, Voice Age & GIPS) here at Communications Developer Conference that are involved with wideband voice codecs of one form or another, and at least one presentation discussed the 2006 Ericsson/ T-Mobile trial I've mentioned before.  So at every opportunity, I've asked people who might have inside knowledge why the 2006 trial hasn't been followed by the launch of mobile handsets with AMR-WB codecs.

While I've heard no good answer, one person who I regard as credible claimed we would see wideband mobile handsets by Christmas this year and at least one operator would be promoting them and supporting them.  He then insisted that he could say no more — NDAs, etc.

It's just a rumor, but after promoting the idea of wideband for more than ten years, I'm desperate enough to grasp at straws!