Apple reveals iPhone delivery date
Cupertino-based Apple confirmed Sunday that the U.S. release of its long-awaited iPhone will be June 29.
The firm revealed the launch date during a series of advertisements that ran during the 60 Minutes news program.
The combination phone, media player and PDA will, according to the ads, sell in two variously outfitted versions, one costing $499 and the more upscale costing $599.
Since Apple's debut of the iPhone in January, the device has generated a storm of media attention, derision and outright ridicule. Skeptics point to the phone's availability on one system, AT&T, and the potential for the phone to take sales away from the firm's iPod market. Others have complained about the seeming lack of development tools to create applications for the product.
Apple is shooting to capture 1 percent of the domestic phone market with the device, with a 2008 year-end goal of selling 10 million units.
Reports from the manufacturing sector in Asia have said Apple has recently placed an additional order for 5 million iPhones with a Taiwanese manufacturer, above the initial order reportedly being manufactured by a separate Taipei-based manufacturer.
