White iPhone 4 Rumor: It's Coming this Weekend?

Well, we'll start off today with a fresh rumor.  Alex, a commenter, recently posted the following:

"I work in the Mall of America in MN. I heard from a friend who works for AT&T here that they will be receiving white iPhone 4's next weekend (7/9-7/12) when they receive replenishment of the black models!!"

Is it true?  Read on to find out the likelihood.



1.  Is White iPhone 4 Available this Weekend? - Likelihood: 40%

At first blush, it seems too soon.  But I gave this rumor a pretty high rating, for one key reason.  Apple said white iPhone 4 would be available in the second half of July.  If they shipped this weekend, that would be pretty close to the second half of the month.

Why didn't I go higher?  Well, two reasons, really. 

First, there hasn't been a change on Apple's store yet.  One would think they would begin to allow pre-orders for the white iPhone 4.  This would give them the opportunity for a second launch day, and a headline-grabbing maneuver at the same time.  As we know, Apple likes to give everyone about a week to stew in their desire before offering a product for pre-order or order.  So the fact that we have yet to hear anything from Cupertino makes me think we've got a bit to wait yet. 

On the other hand, maybe they don't want the publicity right now, considering the late white iPhone 4 ship date is the result of a problem, and the resulting headlines could be largely negative.

Second, the second half of July covers a large range of days, including those after the 24th.  While I'm sure Apple wants to get the white iPhone 4 to market as quickly as possible, they probably also want to prevent black iPhone 4 purchasers from switching and flooding the market with used black iPhone 4s.  Therefore, unless they intend to offer an official black-for-white exchange, they'll place the launch of the white iPhone 4 after the 30-day return policy expires for launch-day adopters.

On the other hand, again, Apple might want to let these folks switch, just for some good PR.

Consequently, this rumor has a good chance of being true, but I remain skeptical.  I found no other news, information, or rumor corroborating or undermining this rumor, so it really is up in the air.  Another possibility is that they will be shipped this weekend, but not released until around the 16th.  We'll just have to wait and see.