White iPhone 4 releases tomorrow, finally (update: Phil Schiller explains the delay)
The rare albino iPhone 4 has been spotted numerous times in the wild, skulking through the trees in the magical United Kingdom, cavorting across the mysterious lands of Vietnam, and most recently standing in formation in Belgium. Now it's coming somewhere rather less exotic: the Apple Store. Apple has finally announced it will release the white iPhone 4 tomorrow around the world. Here in the US it'll come in both AT&T and Verizon flavors, warming the hearts and minds of those who like a little less pigment on their handsets. Other than a proximity sensor tweak nothing else has changed on the device, and so the pricing remains the same: $199 on contract for the 16GB model, $299 for 32GB. Sadly, though, your contract also remains the same, and we're pretty sure really wanting a new phone to match your earbuds isn't grounds for avoiding an ETF.
Update: All Things D's Ina Fried had the pleasure to sit down with Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller to learn the reason behind the white iPhone 4's delay. According to Schiller, it wasn't as simple as getting the right whiteness like we reported previously -- turns out this is more to do with adding extra UV protection to keep the internal components behaving normally. Looking on the bright side, Jobs implied that this lesson allowed them to bring out the white iPad 2.
Separately, some time ago our sources added that the white iPhone 4's spring launch window was set in stone back in September (and consequently announced in October), as Apple foresaw the need to delay the iPhone 5 to free up resources for the OS X Lion team and the new maps team ahead of WWDC in June. All will be revealed in good time.
Show full PR text
White iPhone Arrives Tomorrow
CUPERTINO, California-April 27, 2011-Apple® today announced that the white iPhone® 4 will be available beginning tomorrow. White iPhone 4 models will be available from Apple's online store (www.apple.com), at Apple's retail stores, AT&T and Verizon Wireless stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.
"The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it's beautiful," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we've worked to get every detail right."
iPhone 4 is the most innovative phone in the world, featuring Apple's stunning Retina™ display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and FaceTime®, which makes video calling a reality.
Pricing & Availability
White models of iPhone 4 will be available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and the US, beginning Thursday, April 28 and in many more countries around the world soon. White iPhone 4 will be available for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model with a new two year agreement through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), at Apple's retail stores, AT&T and Verizon Wireless stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
