White iPhone available from tomorrow

27 Apr 2011

Apple has confirmed the white iPhone 4 will be available in all Apple stockists from tomorrow. The oft-delayed addition to the iPhone family will hit 26 countries at the same time as it arrives in the US and UK.

There are many theories for the delay in the white iPhone 4 – my favourite is the one about the colour of the phone affecting the quality of photos and videos captured on the device. Other possibilities, and equally plausible, include supply of parts and materials in shimmering white.

Whatever the problem was, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide product market Philip Schiller said the company has worked hard to get everything right.

“The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful,” Schiller said.

“We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.”

The iPhone 4 boasts Apple’s high-resolution Retina display, resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and video calling platform FaceTime.

White models of iPhone 4 will be available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK and the US, beginning 28 April, and in many more countries around the world soon.

Pricing and availability details will be available at launch at www.apple.com/ie and www.apple.com/ie/iphone/buy/.

iPad 2 hits more countries, including Japan and China

In related news, Apple revealed the iPad 2 tablet computer will be available in Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and eight other countries from tomorrow.

The device, which is 33pc thinner and 15pc lighter than the iPad, features a faster dual-core A5 processor and two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, bringing the innovative FaceTime feature to iPad users for the first time.

iPad 2 with Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models will be available in Japan on 28 April and Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and UAE on 29 April.

iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available in China on 6 May, and further international availability will be announced at a later date, Apple said.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com