The only mobile operator to offer Hewlett-Packard's iPAQ h6315 in North America since its release last August has been T-Mobile. Now it appears additional mobile operators may soon carry their own versions of the Pocket PC Phone—one of the most highly anticipated and acclaimed smartphones of 2004.

IPAQabilities has posted a rumor that Cingular Wireless may soon support two iPAQ h6300 models, the h6325 and h6320. The h6325 would integrate a camera, while the h6320 would not—most likely to facilitate acceptance of the handset in the business community.

That's because many companies are becoming increasingly concerned about the vulnerabilities of handheld communications devices. So, corporate gatekeepers view even fun features like integrated cameras with an increasingly jaundiced eye. They simply make it too easy for employees to share with others information that the enterprise would prefer to keep private.

In addition to Cingular in the U.S., the h6300 series could soon find its way up in the great white north—as early as later this month—via Canadian carrier Rogers Wireless. But first the cellular-wireless handheld must purportedly complete certification testing, and the mobile operator needs to finalize a deal with HP. Roger's as-of-yet unnamed h6300 models would, like Cingular's, come in camera and camera-less editions.

In the meantime, there are reports that HP may redesign the h6300 series by developing a model with an integrated keyboard. Although the h6315 ships with a keyboard attachment, it seems some prospective customers passed on the device because the keyboard wasn't built-in like the Treo 650's or newer Pocket PC Phones (e.g. Sprint's Audiovox PPC-6601 and Cingular's Siemens SX66) that even have retractable keyboards

Another issue facing HP and its h6300 series are upcoming sleeker and smaller Pocket PC Phones that still have keyboards built-in, including Samsung's SCH-i730 and Motorola's MPx. To compete against these other products, it would help HP to include, at the least, all the features these other handsets do.

More on iPAQ 6315
The iPAQ h6315 is an international quad-band GSM/GPRS Pocket PC Phone with built-in Wi-Fi for linking to wireless LANs and hotspots, and Bluetooth for connecting to a wireless headset or sending documents to a Bluetooth-equipped printer. It has a 200 MHz processor, 64MB of RAM, and 20 MB of ROM, with an SDIO-enabled Secure Digital card slot for memory and peripheral expansion. Additional features include excellent audio and visual functions with a built-in camera.

For more details, read our review of the Pocket PC Phone