A friendly neighborhood AT&T employee forwarded us a purported memo for AT&T retail store employees that could provide a rather telling clue about the
next-gen iPhone's release date this summer if it proves true. A similar memo went out last year around this time requesting that employees not take any vacations between June 15 and July 15, and this year those dates are June 15 and July 12 -- which seems suspiciously early, but that's what the man says. The memo cites "an exciting Summer Promotional Launch," which we're guessing doesn't refer to some new Motorola flip phone. Also telling is the fact that employees might be able to take some vacations later within that window when things die down a bit, which seems to imply that Apple could be aiming for a launch date right around the iPhone's one year anniversary of June 29th. How romantic.
posted May 6th 2008 1:23PM
My money's on a world-wide launch fri june 27th
Your money is no good here.
I've got your Summer Promotional Launch right here.
I'm unable to foresee the long lines of last year.
1. Inevitable Price drop.
2. New extended contracts.
3. People waiting for the dust to settle and see what's new.
thanks for the informative reply to my comment, vagrant
Thank Zog, I've been looking all over for it.
Romantic? While the iPhone is probably the coolest thing out there ever, I don't see it as...romantic.
Sachin, i don't think the "Romantic" was meant to describe the iPhone.
It was a semi sarcastic comment about the "new" iphone being released on the same day the old one was.....
Happy Birthday to Me!! Happy Birthday to Me!!
Thanks Apple! =)
I bet if you cry loud enough "but I am an early adopter and I bought the original iPhone. It's no fair there is a better one out now." they will give you a free update.
and whats wrong with a company wanting to keep it's customers happy?
Yeah, Right!
Faslane
sorry, used the wrong it's/its...
*hangs head in shame*
@Aaron Wanker,
I used to make the it's/its mistake all the time. Then I finally studied the rules for them and came up with this.
1. Contractions always have apostrophes. Ergo: "it is" must be "it's"
2. Possessives don't always have apostrophes. e.g.: whose
And I remind myself with this imaginary dialog sequence:
Q: It's whose?
A: Its. (pointing at something)
I hope that helps.
Great! so only 10 more weeks of this...
SWEET HUH????
Faslane
WooHoo!!
Faslane
I HEART FREAKIN
Where's that fat 1st-in-line guy going to be?
In the front of the line?
He'll be behind me im sitting in line now. Im here so soon they don't even know where to have me set up camp.
@ Engadget, your source might be taking you for a Ride cause someone already submitted a similar claim to Boy Genius, but with different dates, according to them it's between 4/15 & 5/15, heres a link http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/05/06/apple-and-att-to-launch-iphone-3g-a-lot-sooner-than-we-think/
They have updated and are now pointing to JUNE / JULY as well
BGR Updated:
UPDATE: Sorry, guys. We’re lacking some serious sleep over here. The dates are in fact June 15th to July 12th. Our apologies. The full internal email, after the jump!
Did anyone else read that memo? Ugh...
"Thanks to your hard work, we experienced excellent sales during the mid-summer period. This year, the numbers you produced in 2007 will be hard to beat; but as a business, we must rise to the challenge, and make every effort to exceed last year’s sales results. Your management team is counting on you!"
Does management still believe throwing around phrases like "your management team is counting on you!" actually does anything but piss off their employees? Hasn't any of them ever watched the movie Office Space?
"Your management team is counting on you!"
Last time I was served that sentence, I replied with my resignation. Management gives only two things to employees; too many words, too little pay.
Yeah, if you could just sorta go ahead and take care of the cockroach problem, that'd just be terrific. Mmmmmmkay?
I dont believe anything until I se a copy of that memo scanned and posted here.
Second
i second the second.
and i'm first to third the second
screw "fourthing" it
I plead the fifth...
Didn't we assume as much? Thanks for the info, but I'd be pissed if it weren't available in June.
I (an At&t Mobility employee) will look int this, because I aleady have scheduled vacation time from june 13 - 19. If they make me cancel it I'll demand to know why and then report back here.
yo go, girl
*you
(doh!)
the full memo posted at BGR states "no additional vacation will be approved". i can only assume yours is safe, and you will get no information.
@phanboy:
The first one actually works with the proper punctuation:
"yo, go girl!"
BRING IT!
YES, i sold my iphone right on time due to rumors about the new iphone so ..i think i made the right decision....hell yeah...im first in line..i cant wait..
so "FIRST!!!" guys do that in real life too, huh.
I heard from an AT&T employee that the big launch date was June 27th and that the iPhones will be all black. He whispered it to me so it must be right!
dont forget they will be 3G too without MMS ;)
Maybe they are telling people not to go on vacation because the employee retention rate is so low...or better yet they are all going for training. I've never heard ,"Sorry, I don't know how this works" so much in my life...
What about FCC approval? Nothing has showed up about Apple at all on their site, and even if they applied for confidentiality wouldn't still stay some unnamed apple device was tested and got a sticker?
I thought that's what the big hold up was for them last time. Announce phone->FCC approval->product roll-out.
My guess is that they will announce the iPhone at the WWDC in early June and then file for the FCC right away. I don't know how long it takes to get FCC approval but maybe there will be enough time between WWDC and the June 27th launch to get approval.
I had the same questions. I was under assumption that FCC testing would take months. Guess we'll see.
Apple certified both the original iPhone and 3G iPhone with the FCC in the beginning, but hid the 3G behind a bunch of acronyms. This was discussed almost a year ago when every thought it was coming out before. Doing this allowed Stevie J to pick and choose any deployment date he wanted.
If it's still $200 at AT&T stores for a 16GB I'm for sure getting one. I can get out of my parents Verizon contract and save them some money.
No way Apple is going to allow subsidization of the iPhone. It's gonna be at the same price point as current ones.
They might allow AT&T to offload old versions once the new ones come out, but I doubt that as well.
I think you misunderstand economics. If AT&T charged the same price for the iPhone and the 3G iPhone, who the hell would buy the old one?
Once the 3G iPhone is out, the old iPhone will have to sell at a discount. End of story.
As for the subsidy, Apple gets its money either way, so what do they care? AT&T would pay Apple a portion of the cost in order to reduce the pricetag seen by the consumer. This is a strategic move by AT&T because it increases profits (a little) by luring in new 2-year contracts, and more importantly, takes customers away from AT&T's competitors in a pretty damn mature market.
I think the new iPhone is coming soon. I tried to buy one in Los Angeles this weekend and none of the Apple Stores in LA had one. Sounds like new iPhone on the horizon.
Same here. Visted too stores in Manhattan including the Apple store on 59th Street and an ATT store on 34th Street and neither of them had any. I think they might be liquidating the current stock.
I'm seriously considering switching to AT&T...
You know, I bought my iPhone on launch day. I dont have any problems with "having" to buy a new one a year later. I'm giving my "old" one to my brother-in-law. I'm going to Europe right around that time so I betya iPhone2 will launch while I'm gone :(
I'm with you!
Apple didn't force anyone to buy an iPhone (did they?) I think if they give 2 weeks refund time that should be sufficient!
At least this time around all of the iPhone hopefuls might have an existing, albeit suboptimal in their eyes, iPhone to entertain themselves with ^_^
Hey Blomster I found your fat first-in-line guy :)
Damn it that was supposed to be a reply to marcos
ok?
Who even said the "iPhone 2" was going to be 3G?
your kidding right?
My kidding?
iPhone 2 in June with 3G and GPRS.
Or at least that what I was told by an "insider" in early April :)
Screw the iPhone ... what's up with the Google thingamajiggy?
The Gphone is dead and gone along with Android OS. 3G iPhone with OSX and SDK apps just superceded them all. iChat on 10 million 3G iPhones by the end of the year kinda makes the other smartphones seem lackluster in comparison. You're gonna see so many 2.5G iPhones on eBay bought up and sent to Russia and maybe even Cuba.
dont they have a law to prevent FCC from leaking the reviewing product?
Well... that makes sense considering how they are doing repairs right now. My screen started showing some signs of fading, so they just replaced it with a brand new one.
If they don't wait for that 1 year warranty to be up, they'll be replacing the old ones with 3G iPhones instead.
Either way, it looks like I better start saving my money.
If you want to be first in line, get yourself to Sydney (or maybe Auckland). Sydney's Apple store is due to open late June. Of course whatever date it is, Sydney will be there before the rest of you. PS. The 7th of May is going great already, you guys are going to love it.
Will be first in line (know a guy at a Vodafone store in the Auckland CBD).
I guess I'd better get my camping gear ready. I'll get set up outside the NYC Cube store on June 1st. I hope I'm the first in line. (I just noticed some of you people are getting in line now, but maybe they're in a different state) I want to make sure I get one of those 3G iPhone T-shirts. Gotta look my best when I get interviewed by all those women reporters. I probably won't smell too good after I've sat outside for 28 days with an overflowing port-a-potty as my closest friend.
It's gonna be pandemonium. iPhone deja vu all over again. I just don't like it when those second-rate celebrities try to cut in line for a little free press. If Spike Lee or Whoopi Goldberg try to cut in, I'm gonna protest. I would never buy an iPhone online. Actually having the iPhone is nothing compared to hanging out for weeks in front of the Cube Store and schmoozing with the locals and Japanese tourists.
Apple has to have an iPhone launching every year. It's da bomb.
I wonder if it is going to be the launch of the Microsoft Surface tables in the at&t stores instead.
www.itilir.com
Early iPhone Buyers,
Don't forget about your service contracts...
Why the hell is this even an article ya freakin apple noobs! With a question mark like its some big mystery. They are launching the 3G iphone at the WWDC 08 end of story!
Geez!
Count me in, but not in line. I'll pick mine up after the crowd dies down.
@ StalkerZERO we know that, but they are not going to sell them there. we are looking for a release date.
@itilir the microsoft surface tables are already in the stores.
@ronnie jones:
release date? 30 days from announcement in small quantities then larger quantities the next month. There was talk of Apple already preparing a small quantity to be available at announcement. But most likely its going to be pre-orders as usual.
Are there any rumours about new models of the iPod Touch?
I'm an AT&T Retail Sales Employee and that memo is very real. We received it sometime last week. It pretty much prohibits anyone from taking vaction during the period mentioned in this article. Also, I heard from someone in upper management that the launch date will definitely happen sometime in late June. I will keep everyone updated as soon as I find out anything new.
Arrghh.. Why the hype anyway? I'll be holding out for the US availability of the HTC Diamond. All the same functions, the great looks, and expandability with thousands of existing (and often free) programs. All without the premium $$$ demanded by Cupertino.