Rumor: Apple to awaken dormant FM tuner in iPhone

According to 9 to 5 Mac Apple may soon enable the dormant FM tuner hardware currently sitting idle in the iPhone and iPod touch.

9 to 5 reports that Apple is developing an app that offers the same functionality as the FM radio found in the new fifth generation iPod nano. The new radio.app will be able to run in the background according to the source and "could also be incorporated into the iPod.app before release."

The chipset in the iPhone 3GS and the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod touch models include FM radio tuning, Apple just hasn't yet activated it in software.

This wouldn't be the first time Apple awoke sleeping hardware functionality from its mobile products.  Apple sometimes chooses to leave hardware features dormant in their products until they feel the time is right.  For instance, Apple didn't enable Bluetooth in its 2nd generation iPod touch until 9 months after it was released.  Apple also hasn't enabled the 802.11N +5GHZ wireless networking (which we also hope to see updated shortly) in its latest iPhone and iPods.