3G iPhone Report Of The Day: It's Delayed

Quick, everyone panic! Apple's stock is going to tank if this one is true! German cell phone chipmaker Infineon said that it is seeing less demand for its HSDPA chips than it was expecting for some big, unnamed project (hint: 3G iPhone). Surely this means Apple is delaying the 3G iPhone's launch. Right? As Mr. Spock would say, "That's highly illogical."This latest bit of fluff is being backed up by analysts. (Stop laughing. I mean it.) Infineon recently issued a profit warning. In that warning, it said dampened demand for its 3G HSDPA chips will be hurting its bottom line. OK. Sounds reasonable so far.

You might recall that Infineon was one of the supposed suppliers of parts for the 3G iPhone. A bit of code seen in the iPhone SDK listed a part number that matched one of Infineon's chips, and it was thus supposed that Infineon was providing the "3G" part of the 3G iPhone. Of course, this was never confirmed by Infineon or anyone else authorized to speak on the matter.

Anyway, you can see where this is going. Reuters quotes UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudoius as saying, "In our view the profit warning has been caused by ramp changes of next generation iPhone." JPMorgan analyst Sandeep Deshpande also chimed in. He said, "It could be possible that the lower volumes in the certain platform ramp cited could be Apple reducing the initial launch volume."

They are assuming that Infineon is actually supplying the chips for the 3G iPhone. Even if it is, it seems they have failed to consider that Infineon supplies chips to other companies. What if the project in question is a Nokia phone, or a Sony Ericsson phone? Automatically tying the lowered chip orders to the iPhone borders on absurdity.

Then there's the issue of "lowered launch volumes" to consider. This just doesn't make much sense. People want the 3G iPhone. Interest is high. The number of people lining up to get one when they become available will likely be high. I can't see Apple seriously throttling the supply at launch to create some silly supply/demand fever.

A very reliable source has told me that the iPhone will be announced on June 9, and it will be available on June 18. That has not changed. So where's the delay?