In an article published today, the Korea Times newspaper reports that the next generation iPhone could be launching in the country as early as April of this year.  

The newspaper quotes a senior executive from KT, Apple's local partner for iPhone as saying that all legal formalities have been cleared and the device is expected to be launched within the first half of 2010.

According to them, iPhone 4G shall be first delivered among the corporate clients, primarily as a "litmus test" before a public launch around June. The reason behind this move, it is said, is to counter Android's rapid growth in the country. The South Korean mobile phone industry is heavily dominated by Samsung and LG who have among them close to 80% of the market share. According to a local analyst the Korea Times spoke to, these two manufacturers have been focusing on Android based handsets to consolidate their market share. Apple's expedited launch of iPhone 4G could help KT in countering the Android challenge. 

The article also gives us a glimpse of the features that one can expect in the new iPhone model. According to the KT executive, iPhone 4G shall come with organic LED screens (OLED) and a removable battery. However, the most interesting feature that we could expect is the availability of live video chat capability, which would mean that it would come with a front facing camera in addition to the camera at the back that is available currently. The source also seemed to confirm a few other rumors that have been doing the rounds like the presence of dual core processors, powerful graphic chips that would deliver higher video resolutions, etc. 

As always, like all rumors take this one with a grain of salt. But we are curious about the April launch. Considering the growing competition from Android in the American market, could we expect an early launch of iPhone 4G in the US as well? What do you think? Tell us your views. 

[via The Korea Times]