Apple

Rumors hit the net today that Apple may see quite the delay in their iPhone marketing campaign.

Traditionally, a new version of the iPhone has been released each June for the last couple of years.  This year was expected to be no different, with Apple putting out the iPhone 5.  The phone was hotly anticipated to be a giant step up from the iPhone 4 (maybe sidestepping that whole antenna issue), and would follow up the year nicely for Apple who just three weeks ago launched the second version of the popular iPad.

It's possible that the phone might be launched in late 2011, but it seems more likely that a 2012 launch will occur instead.

The insight into the launch delay comes from securities firm Avian Securities, who bases their information on the 'key component supplier' cited in Asia.  Their inside information has been very accurate in the past.

To quote their release,

Supporting out comments over the last month, conversations with yet another key component supplier indicates that production for iPhone-5 will begin in September. This is consistent with Avian findings in the supply chain in recent months and we believe the consensus view is moving towards this scenario. In addition, our conversations also indicate the existence of a lower-spec/lower-priced iPhone in Apple's roadmap. However, while our contacts have seen the placeholder in the Apple roadmap, they do not yet have insight into specs or production timing. 

This leads us to believe that any launch is likely a very late 2011 or more likely a 2012 event. As a reminder, Avian has uncovered several data-points in recent months pointing to the existence of a lower-spec/lower-price iPhone. A lower-spec/lower-price iPhone has also been speculated in the press and gadget blogs, though we do not believe consensus currently discounts the existence of such a model.

 

If the news is accurate, this is a major setback for Apple.  

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