Just because Apple said that it was done rolling out any new products until Macworld, you didn't think that the company would stop generating talk, did you?

Gadget blog The Boy Genius Report is reporting that Apple has struck a deal to begin selling the iPhone 3G through Walmart, the enormous North American retail mega-chain.

In addition to a report, the site has posted an internal memo from AT&T outlining the plan. Supposedly, the iPhone would go on sale 28 December. While anything about Apple has to be treated with skepticism these days unless it comes directly from Cupertino, this report looks legit enough to at least dwell on for a bit.

The release date does raise eyebrows, as it misses the Christmas sweet spot (though I believe it is the last night of Hanukkah); and Apple doesn't really do Sunday releases as a rule, certainly not when it comes to the iPhone. Though a couple of people have noted that Apple's next financial quarter is set to fall on that day, which would make a lot of sense.

Walmart has a history of undercutting other vendors on its prices, but it wouldn't happen with the iPhone. Apple likes to keep the same price point for all of its hardware, and offering a discount to Walmart would only hurt its own retail efforts.

This would be more about getting the iPhone into more storefronts, particularly in the less-populated parts of the US where Apple stores or AT&T outlets are rare. Now that the iPhone has decidedly jumped out of the wealthier early-adopter bracket and into the general public, Walmart becomes a nice vehicle for reaching the blue-collar market.

If this is true, Best Buy has to be rather ticked off. The electronics retailer is increasingly jockying for space with Walmart's growing consumer electronics outfit, and Best Buy would lose the monopoly it enjoyed in many rural and suburban areas where Apple and AT&T had little presence.

The Mark Papermaster saga has taken yet another twist.

For those of you who don't make it regular practice to follow the comings and goings of Apple's executive group, here's the back story: Papermaster is a former IBM chip guru who is said to be instrumental in the design of the Power processor series. A few weeks back, he left IBM to take a job at Apple, and Big Blue got a little sore.

It seems that Papermaster signed a non-compete agreement in 2006 in which he pledged not to take a job at any competitor for at least one year after leaving IBM, the thinking being that this would prevent him from defecting with company secrets to a competitor and undermine IBM.

When Papermaster announced that he would be leaving to head up iPhone and iPod development for Apple, Big Blue got a little suspicious, and more than a little litigious. The company filed suit to block Papermaster's appointment, claiming that his knowledge of Power would be put to use not in the iPhone or iPod, but in Apple's XServe lines and in a processor operation stemming from Apple's buyout of PA Semi.

Well, it seems Papermaster isn't taking this lying down. He has now countersued, asking the judge to tell IBM to get off his back, already. He claims that he is, in fact, working on the iPhone and iPod, and that unless IBM plans on getting into the portable media player market, he's not violating the agreement.

It would seem that the smart thing for IBM to do would be to back off for the time being and see what happens. After all, a successful suit against Papermaster would only stall him for a few months, and perhaps drag on longer than the actual terms of the deal, costing IBM much more than they'd get in return. On the other hand, if Apple releases a product that does compete with Power, then IBM has a case not only against Papermaster, but a shot to dig into Apple's much, much deeper pockets.

Remember when Apple's iPhone profit margins were all the rage? Well, not any more.

If the price drop on the 3G model didn't convince you that the company was selling the handsets at a much smaller profit, the latest iSupply estimates on the T-Mobile G1 handset should do the job.

The company estimates that the two handsets contain nearly identical markup levels. While the 8GB iPhone costs $160 to build and retails for $200, the G1 costs some $144 to build and costs $180 on the street.

So, if you're worried that Apple's gouging you for the privilege of owning an iPhone, no need to worry.

It also goes to show just why the Mac and iPod units remain the overwhelming source of profits for Apple.

Not even Steve Jobs could have foreseen just how successful the iPhone would become.

Yes, it definitely had a major buzz amongst consumers, but the consensus always seemed to be that it would be just that: a consumer phone. Nobody would have guessed that it would take down the mighty RIM Blackberry, but that's just what happened, according to Canalys.

The company ranked Apple as the number two smartphone vendor on the planet, behind only Nokia. RIM was pushed to third, while Motorola pulled up in fourth place.

So I think now we can start the debate: where does the iPhone rank on Apple's all-time greatest product list? I would still put it behind the iMac and Apple II, but the gap is starting to close. The scary thing is that the iPhone is still very, very new to the market. If the iPhone continues to gain ground in the market, Apple could find in a few years that its mobile phone operation could be just as lucrative as the computer outfit.

If you're sick of all the rumors, predictions and general chatter over what Apple is about to release, good news: you won't have to hear about it for a couple of months.

The house that Steve and Steve built is reportedly cooling its jets for a while. Representatives have been quoted as saying that the holiday lineup is set. This would indicate that the company is not going to release anything new until Steve Jobs takes the stage at the 2009 Macworld Expo in early January.

So, if you're holding off on getting that new iMac in the hope a new model will bump it down to clearance price before Christmas, you're out of luck.