Nothing like a hot mobile rumor in an otherwise ordinary Wednesday.

This morning, Digitimes reported out of Asia that Apple’s sixth generation iPhone will be unveiled in September.

In recent weeks, speculation has swirled that Apple will release the next new iPhone either in June at the company’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, or in October – 12 months after the iPhone 4S was released.

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Today, only half of all iPads sold are those with a corresponding radio that now only lends users a new connectivity option, but also requires more cash up front for the hardware.

But in a new interview with Macworld, Glenn Lurie – president of emerging devices at AT&T – says that cell radios should – and probably will – soon be standard features on a tablet that won’t require users to pay more up front.

All devices should have all capabilities built in from the beginning,” he says.

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According to the latest published insights and projections from ABI Research, 4G subscriber adoption is poised to “take off” in 2012 as a range of 4G-enabled mobile devices will consume the masses.

From USB dongles, smartphones, tablets, 4G portable hotspots, and wireless broadband CPE modems, retail stores will soon be teeming with more 4G devices than ever.

“4G devices are expected to generate 87 million in unit sales in 2012, up 294% year-on-year,” says Jake Saunders, ABI’s vice president of forecasting.

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According to a new report published Tuesday by ABI Research, operator spending for mobile core networks decreased from $24.6 billion in 2010 to $21.4 billion in 2011.

This information is derived from the revenues reported by network equipment vendors.

“The overall decrease in mobile core network spending comes despite significant operator investments in 2011 for launching new 4G networks,” says Aditya Kaul of ABI. “Thanks to well-planned architectural evolutions from 3G to 4G and earlier operator investments to make their networks 4G-ready, most operators have been able to simply upgrade their existing core networks to launch 4G services, instead of replacing all of the core network equipment.”

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LTE is coming to Alaska. That was the announcement Wednesday from Matanuska Telephone Association, a telecommunications carrier in Alaska.

The company has entered into an agreement with Verizon Wireless to participate in the LTE in Rural America program.

Under the LTE in Rural America program, Verizon Wireless is working with rural carriers to jumpstart the delivery of fourth-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) services to rural communities throughout the United States.

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In a development that some analysts say happened almost overnight, 4G smartphones have dramatically taken off in popularity and and ubiquity.

That much is clear from a new report from NPD Group, which shows that 4G devices now represent 35 percent of the mobile phone market in the fourth quarter. That’s a significant increase from a 6 percent market share just one year earlier.

The most popular 4G network technology in smartphones was HSPA+, at 22 percent of smartphone sales. The only 4G network technology offered by AT&T until 2011 and still the only 4G technology offered by T-Mobile, HSPA+ received a tremendous boost in Q4, because it was the only 4G technology supported by the popular iPhone 4S.

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Today, Verizon Wireless announced it will begin offering the new iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G nationwide this Friday, March 16th.

Although the announcement comes as little surprise to anyone, it was not at first known if the carrier would offer the new iPad with 4G connectivity so soon after launch.

Verizon Wireless says it will offer all models of iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G with a range of “attractive data plans.”

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