Apple’s stand-in CEO, Tim Cook, has effectively denied rumours that the firm’s secretly working on an iPhone Nano.

During a conference call to announce its first quarter financials yesterday, Cook said that Apple isn't “going to play in the low-end voice phone business”, according to an Apple Insider report.

Cook didn’t use the words “iPhone” and “Nano”, but given that the iPhone Nano is thought to be a stripped-down version of the iPhone 3G, it’s a pretty safe bet that his reference to “low-end voice phone” was a coded response to iPhone Nano predictions.

Apple’s top dog – who’s standing in for poorly Steve Jobs – added that the company’s goal is to build the best phone and “not to be the unit share leader”.

Earlier this month, it was reported that two chip companies - TSMC and UMC – had supposedly been chosen to supply chips for the iPhone Nano. Separately, cases said to be designed to fit the pint-sized iPhone have appeared on a variety of Chinese websites. ®