There's been talk that the release of a 3G iPhone is just around the corner. Most of the rumors come from financial analysts who pay attention to things like the amount of product inventory of stores. Apparently, they've noticed that the availability of iPhones has begun to dry up and claim Apple is clearing out old stock for the new. If true, they say, the 3G iPhone is merely weeks away.
There's one small catch. The FCC needs to approve the phone, as an entirely new radio (3G) is being introduced into it. According to Compliance Engineering Magazine, this process takes a while:
"Depending on the FCC workload, product certification could take from 60 to more than 100 days. "
The initial filing for FCC device approval is not public record, only the FCC's final stamp of approval is. So people trolling through the pages of the FCC's website won't find anything until the iPhone is actually approved. Apple submitted the first iPhone on March 9, 2007 and received approval on May 17, 2007. The process took a little over two months. Apple chose to announce the first iPhone well before they even submitted to the FCC, but whether they'll do the same again is unknown.
Required reading: FCC device approval documentation.
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