Apple’s latest setback: the white iPhone 4 delay

Analysts are speculating about the latest setback to hit Apple’s new smartphone after the tech giant announced a further delay to the release of the white version of the iPhone 4. One theory suggests the Apple is buying time while it tries to fix the ‘Antennagate’ reception problem.

Apple’s latest statement on the delays is concise: “White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year.”

It addes: “The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.” It seems that, like purchasers of Henry Ford’s 1908 Model T car, iPhone users can have any colour they want, “so long as it is black”.

This is the second time the release has been put back – last week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told press the phone would not be out until the end of July – and speculation is rife.

While geek website Engadget.com suggests a prosaic explanation  for the original delay – essentially that the paint isn’t ready - a wilder claim is that Apple may be stalling for time while it redesigns the phone’s troublesome antenna.

Writing in Businessweek, Kevin Tofel asks why Apple has only agreed to give out free covers – its inelegant fix to the problem - until September 30. He claims Apple could be planning to release a re-engineered version of the phone at that time - white first, black later.

Sadly, there is one major objection to the exciting theory that the paint job problems are a smokescreen while Apple improves the antenna: it first announced it would be delaying the white phone some time before reception problems surfaced.

And Apple expert Tim Bajarin proposes a more innocent explanation: “My belief is that the demand for the white iPhone is much higher than they anticipated. They don’t want to ship them in dribs and drabs. They want to have a large number of units to satisfy customers’ needs all at once.”

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