Ryan Cushley

With the next iPhone announcement just two days away, rumours have been circulating as to the release date and hardware for the device. Thus far I have remained silent on the accuracy of these rumours, but with two trusted tip-offs this morning, it is time to show my cards.

October 4th Event Invite

The first concerns the release date for the device. A source within the British media has confirmed that it is open knowledge that the release date will be either the 13th or 14th of October. The reason this remains unpublished, the source says, is fear of being blacklisted by the unforgiving Apple PR Department. This corresponds with an earlier report by AppleInsider suggesting vacation blackouts through October 14th and 15th:

…the iPhone maker has in some locations blacked out vacation time for employees from October 9th through 12th and October 14th through 15th, according to people familiar with the matter.

AT&T are also said to have blacked out employee leave during the first two weeks of this month, BGR reports.

Purported unloading of iPhone 5 Materials

A second, trusted source within Apple Retail UK has claimed that an all-employee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening at several (possibly all, although this cannot be confirmed by the source) Apple Stores in the UK. This is apparently out of the ordinary, as while meetings are said to happen regularly, a meeting organised at short notice is highly unusual. The source speculates this may either be to place marketing material in-store, or for training with some new aspect of a device. The ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ event is scheduled to take place at 6pm GMT, so if this meeting is to take place, senior staff in the Apple Store would likely need advance knowledge of the content of the keynote.

The source also asserts that in the UK no restrictions have been placed on employee leave as yet for this month.

Furthermore, contradictory to a photo seen on Twitter, my source confirms that nothing has been delivered to Apple Stores in the UK that would suggest an imminent release of new hardware. The source is also confident that no marketing materials have yet been delivered.

While nothing considerable has been noted through these sources, a number of important points can be derived from them:

• Apple is unlikely to be releasing the next iPhone this week
• Earlier claims of employee vacation blackouts are potentially inaccurate, although Apple Retail USA may have different plans than the UK retail presence
• Earlier claims of hardware or marketing deliveries to Apple Stores are, again, likely to be inaccurate
• On the other hand, an employee meeting would suggest a potential product release on Wednesday

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