WSJ: Apple Is Working On The “iPhone Nano” (N97) … And It Drops This Summer. – [Update: More Details]

A new report by The Wall Street Journal tonight seemingly confirms that, despite the naysayers, Apple is actually working on a smaller, cheaper version of the iPhone. Internally thought to be dubbed the “N97″, the claim follows a similar one by Bloomberg just last week.

The new line of device is said to be half the size of the current iPhone 4, is expected to be announced alongside the iPhone 5 at WWDC11 and 9to5Mac predicts it could drop for as low as $49.

Alongside the various claims about Apple working on the “iPhone Nano” (N97), The Wall Street Journal threw another claim onto the table tonight, stating that Apple was working on a major overhaul to its MobileMe service also set for release this summer.

The report also claims Apple is “exploring a major overhaul of its MobileMe online storage service.” MobileMe is said to become a free “locker” for all of your personal media like photos and videos. This would allow Apple to provide less physical storage on their mobile devices and pull all your media from the cloud. Perhaps this is Apple’s North Carolina data center’s true purpose in life. The report also claims MobileMe could tie into Apple’s rumored cloud-based music service.

If true, the claim would match up with a purported email from Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, last year, which claimed the service would “get a lot better” starting this year.

[Update] – Does the WSJ know something we don’t? – They just updated their original article on this to include a number of new, specific details about this smaller, cheaper iPhone. Most notable, they say it will have an edge-to-edge screen. No home button?

The WSJ has updated their report to include some new, specific information about the new, smaller iPhone. According to the report’s sources this new iPhone will be lighter and will have an “edge-to-edge” screen (no home button?!), and wait for it… have voice-based navigation. They also claim the new MobileMe revamp was due for release last year and will allow users to stream their iTunes libraries to their phones so they won’t need to actually sync through the iTunes desktop application. The report also says Apple is working on an update to their main iPhone (iPhone 4) and Steve Jobs declined to comment via email.