The beginning of produce date is possible cause 03.Feb is the CTM new year, all workers will go home.

Well, that last statement says all about the crediability of the report.

My guess would be that the January production estimates were merely for devices seen at the MacWorld Convention this week. February sounds more like the full production for the April Launch.

If production kicks off in a few weeks, why an April launch and not March?

Being as the launch of the iPad was a rather drawn out affair taking months to unfold (the original announcement took place in January), I don't think that an April launch date is cast in stone.

Apple hates it when leaks blunt the wow factor that comes from unveiling a significant update. If you start building the new iPad in early February and wait for two months to launch the device, you have to know that the official announcement will be merely a formality with no significant PR value. On the other hand if you kick off production and then unveil the device let's say a month later, you have a chance to keep leaks from messing up the reveal. It also helps to prevent competition from being a month closer to catching up to you.

Perhaps I'm being naive. Maybe a month is not enough time to get production going in volumes adequate to meet initial demand. Yet it seems to me that volume production within a month of launching production seems like a reasonable goal. As long as you have enough units built within that month to not be regarded as having lied about it being available, if there is an initial delay for customers in the early stages, that's considered business as usual.

Then again, this is all based on a best-case scenario. If it turns out there is a production issue that surfaces in that first few weeks, no doubt Apple would hate to have it thought that a March or late February public unveiling was in the cards only to have that announcement delayed by several weeks to work out the problem. Better to have it thought that April was the target all along.

Gah! Can't wait.

....but when does the white iPhone 4 arrive?

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