Evidence of Apple's LTE Testing MountsEvidence of Apple's LTE Testing Mounts

4:40 PM -- The evidence is piling up that Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its carrier partners are working on testing 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) capabilities for future iPhones or iPads.

After I reported that Apple is staffing up for LTE and Boy Genius Report uncovered LTE in an iOS test build, Forbes has now found that Apple is looking to hire LTE field test engineers. (See The iPhone's Future Is 4G and Carriers Testing Apple LTE Devices? You'd Hope So ...)

Elizabeth Woyke at Forbes reports that Apple put up ads for field test engineers versed in LTE on LinkedIn this week. Field tests usually happen in the later stages of the product curve.

I'm still not sure you should jump around like idiots in gleeful anticipation of a 4G iPhone though. Look at the timing of ads -- if Apple is hiring now, that doesn't give them a huge window for field tests if rumors of a September or October launch are correct.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile