It’s happening people, the new iPhone is coming and more and more details are starting to trickle in. While we still don’t know the final specification of the new iPhone (what most are referring to as the iPhone 5), clues have surfaced as to when the device will be launched.
A leaked internal memo originating from Sprint (one of the three operators that will be offering the new iPhone) addressed to its employees has revealed that Sprint employees are not allowed to take any leave starting from September 30 to October 15. As with previous iPhone launches, a blanket holiday blackout can only mean one thing — launch day.
Nailing the exact launch date is tricky as the blackout period spans across two weeks, but in any case it doesn’t really matter as Apple is expected to unveil the device and announce its in store dates before the end of this month. So we will know the exact date soon enough.
What is important is figuring out when the new iPhone will come to Malaysia. Now that we know when the US launch will roughly be, we can try to estimate when the device will come to Malaysia.
First, we have the iPhone 4 which was announced in June 2010, in-store availability for tier-1 countries was one month later in July. The iPhone 4 officially launched in Malaysia in September 2010, three months after it was announced globally.
Next we have the recent iPad 2 launch. The iPad 2 was officially announced early March 2011 and the device was officially launched in Malaysia just a little over a month after that in late April.
Looking at the previous launches, the pattern is very obvious, the time it takes from announcement to launch in Malaysia is getting shorter and it is safe to assume that it will get shorter still when the new iPhone is announced.
So based on this, we’re predicting that the new iPhone could be in Malaysia as early as November possibly late October. Would the new iPhone be launched earlier in Singapore? We don’t think so. As with the iPad 2 launch where Malaysia and Singapore got the device on the same day, we’re predicting that it would be the same for the new iPhone.
Disclaimer: We could be wrong
