France Telecom CEO Pegs October 15 Release Date for iPhone 5

Another day, another random telecom CEO saying things that shouldn’t be said. France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard has suggested that Apple will release the iPhone 5 on October 15th.

This particular CEO has a history of speaking on Apple-related matters, so take this claim with a grain of salt. It is worth noting that Richard’s projected date does match up with rumors that have pegged Apple’s iPhone announcement to take place in late-September, with carrier availability in early to mid-October…

Mac4Ever (via Google Translate) quoting Stéphane Richard:

“If I believe what we heard, the iPhone 5 will be released on October 15.”

Apple has a history of keeping carriers in the dark about pretty much everything. Exact release dates, hardware specs, and even carrier-related matters don’t usually reach the telecom CEO’s ears until during an Apple announcement. When Apple unveiled iMessage (a carrier and data reliant messaging service) at WWDC this past summer, carriers didn’t know about the product until after Apple announced it to developers.

With that being said, there’s a chance that Richard actually knows more than just the rumors. He is, after all, a high level executive of a major iPhone partner in Europe. There’s a chance that his dates could be mixed up with domestic and international releases, however.

Lastly is the date itself. October 15 is a Saturday, so that’s a no-go. The day before, October 14, makes much more sense. Apple could release the iPhone 5 on a Friday.

While Apple will probably ‘release’ the next gen iPhone in October to customers, its still expected that the Cupertino company will hold a media event in September before carrier availability. Another report from this morning said that the final build of iOS 5 is slated to drop in two weeks, which would line up with an announcement during that timeframe.

[MacRumors]