Mac4Ever reports that France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard has reportedly claimed that iPhone 5 will be released on October 15th.
It is still not clear if Richard has placed this claim upon information he’s received or based on the rumors and speculations he has listened so far. It would be strange for a top executive like Richard to comment based on rumors.
This is apparently what Richard told reporters:
If I believe what we heard, the iPhone 5 will be released on October 15.
Richard has a history of speaking rather openly about issues related to the carrier’s business, including discussing Apple’s desire to reduce the size of or eliminate SIM cards in its GSM-compatible devices, moving to a built-in “e-SIM”. That idea has been opposed by carriers, and Apple has reportedly backed away from its e-SIM plans for at least the time being.
As MacRumors points out, October 15th, which is a Saturday would be an odd day for iPhone 5 launch as Apple prefers to launch the next generation iPhone either on a Thursday or Friday, so October 14th seems like a more likely date, which in line with some rumors.
