14 DAY TRIAL // Do you want to launch an electronic device in the US and you don't want the release date to be all over the news? Don't, I say DON'T give the FCC any hint about it! Why? Because Apple did and guess what we found out the next day? Apple is going to launch their long expected handset, the iPhone, sometime around June 15th, probably exactly on the day after.
I have to hand it to the guys from the Federal Communications Commission: they really, really know how to destroy any chance of keeping secret a device's launch. And for this one here, I suppose we all have to join hands, make a big bow and say a loud and huge "THANKS FCC!".
If James Bond would have had the guys from FCC as its direct supervisors, we would have never found out about its many adventures across the globe because, most probably, the FCC would have acted exactly like the snitch it is and inform James Bond's archenemy of its exact whereabouts and would have sent him to certain death from its first mission. :D
That's exactly what they do every time they check the devices set to be launched in the states and, if I may say so, they do a very good job publishing external photos, test setup photos, the user manual, the schematic diagram, the block diagram and everything they can scoop up on almost every single device they get their backstabbing hands on :).
This time, Apple has sent them a letter that clearly asks them not to publish any iPhone specific information on their website (as they usually do with everything they check up) because this would give market competitors "an unfair advantage". In the letter they specifically refer to the iPhone's schematic diagram, block diagram, theory of operation, external photos, internal setup, test setup photos and user manual.
The document also states that Apple is "requesting the commission grant short-term confidentiality to the following attachments until June 15, 2007". Is June 16th going to be the release date of the iPhone in USA? The only way we can be sure of that is to have a time travel machine and pay a visit to some AT&T/Cingular retail store but, as you surely know, time travel isn't yet possible, so we will just have to wait until then.
One last thanks to the FCC and I hope they keep up with what they're doing because, despite what the electronics manufactures say, you FCC guys are one of the best sources of info available out there!