The rumour was that Apple was being forced to see off an anti-trust action by the EU, or wanted to butter up the telcos,  by offering a package to upgrade its users from i0S to Android.

The rumour was so stupid we did not bother with looking at the story. Apple would rather pull out of the European market than contaminate its iPhone with Android. Besides there would be no way to tell an iPhone from any other smartphone in the market. Apple would never butter up its telco partners as it sees them as lucky that they are allowed to sell its products for them.

However Apple decided to actually offer a flat-out denial.

Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller said: "There is no truth to this rumor. We are entirely focused on switching users from Android to iPhone, and that is going great."

What she was mentioning was the move to iOS app, which lets Android device owners easily move content over to an iPhone or iPad.

The source of the rumour was the UK’s Daily Telegraph which is not legendary for making stuff up. It is possible that Apple is just delaying the inevitable but in this case it is extremely unlikely and the flat denial confirms it.