Leaked AT&T memo points to 3G iPhone release in late June?

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.

[Richard @ May 6th 2008 1:27PM]

My money's on a world-wide launch fri june 27th

[Eric M. @ May 6th 2008 1:42PM]

Your money is no good here.

[phanbouy @ May 6th 2008 1:27PM]

I've got your Summer Promotional Launch right here.

[Vagrant @ May 6th 2008 1:41PM]

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.

[phanbouy @ May 6th 2008 1:44PM]

thanks for the informative reply to my comment, vagrant

[sonicwind @ May 6th 2008 3:16PM]

Thank Zog, I've been looking all over for it.

[Sachin @ May 6th 2008 5:23PM]

Romantic? While the iPhone is probably the coolest thing out there ever, I don't see it as...romantic.

[The New Guy @ May 7th 2008 8:40AM]

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.....

[Tony C @ May 7th 2008 10:26AM]

Happy Birthday to Me!! Happy Birthday to Me!!

Thanks Apple! =)

[whatishalo? @ May 6th 2008 1:27PM]

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.

[Aaron Wanker @ May 6th 2008 1:29PM]

and whats wrong with a company wanting to keep it's customers happy?

[lanejasper69 @ May 6th 2008 1:29PM]

Yeah, Right!

Faslane

[Aaron Wanker @ May 6th 2008 1:31PM]

sorry, used the wrong it's/its...
*hangs head in shame*

[RichardBronosky @ May 7th 2008 12:12AM]

@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.

[Ingersoll @ May 6th 2008 1:27PM]

Great! so only 10 more weeks of this...

[lanejasper69 @ May 6th 2008 1:30PM]

SWEET HUH????


Faslane

[lanejasper69 @ May 6th 2008 1:28PM]

WooHoo!!
Faslane

[akatypes @ May 6th 2008 1:29PM]

I HEART FREAKIN

[blomster @ May 6th 2008 1:31PM]

Where's that fat 1st-in-line guy going to be?

[Drew @ May 6th 2008 1:33PM]

In the front of the line?

[R1cebrner @ May 6th 2008 5:22PM]

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.

[Snitch @ May 6th 2008 1:36PM]

@ 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/

[Idlemind @ May 6th 2008 1:52PM]

They have updated and are now pointing to JUNE / JULY as well

[ByThePowerOfGheySkull @ May 6th 2008 1:55PM]

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!

[Harkonian @ May 6th 2008 5:17PM]

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?

[Twitchy @ May 6th 2008 6:49PM]

"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.

[phanbouy @ May 6th 2008 7:08PM]

Yeah, if you could just sorta go ahead and take care of the cockroach problem, that'd just be terrific. Mmmmmmkay?

[EMaster @ May 6th 2008 1:36PM]

I dont believe anything until I se a copy of that memo scanned and posted here.

[Jason G. @ May 6th 2008 2:18PM]

Second

[Najakwa @ May 6th 2008 3:31PM]

i second the second.

[Concura @ May 6th 2008 3:36PM]

and i'm first to third the second

[Chris Washington @ May 14th 2008 11:29AM]

screw "fourthing" it

I plead the fifth...

[Gordy @ May 6th 2008 1:36PM]

Didn't we assume as much? Thanks for the info, but I'd be pissed if it weren't available in June.

[SeditioN VII @ May 6th 2008 1:37PM]

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.

[phanbouy @ May 6th 2008 1:42PM]

yo go, girl

[phanbouy @ May 6th 2008 1:43PM]

*you

(doh!)

[lucas @ May 6th 2008 2:24PM]

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.

[Harkonian @ May 6th 2008 5:19PM]

@phanboy:

The first one actually works with the proper punctuation:

"yo, go girl!"

[aaron @ May 6th 2008 1:40PM]

BRING IT!

[marcos @ May 6th 2008 6:55PM]

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..

[phanbouy @ May 6th 2008 6:59PM]

so "FIRST!!!" guys do that in real life too, huh.

[cronked @ May 6th 2008 2:00PM]

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!

[psxp @ May 6th 2008 2:14PM]

dont forget they will be 3G too without MMS ;)

[Idlemind @ May 6th 2008 2:02PM]

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...

[Micah @ May 7th 2008 4:53PM]

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.

[Bob Cronk @ May 6th 2008 3:00PM]

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.

[Pootsworth @ May 6th 2008 3:14PM]

I had the same questions. I was under assumption that FCC testing would take months. Guess we'll see.

[DJ @ May 6th 2008 3:58PM]

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.

[Kyle @ May 6th 2008 3:03PM]

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.

[PootsworthIII @ May 6th 2008 5:33PM]

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.