The next iPhone from Apple is planned to be released in June of 2011 or at least that is the generally expected date given Apple’s annual release of products. When it comes to iPhones and the release dates, Apple is in the drivers seat and has complete control of when they are to be released.

The current iPad 2 was rumored to be delayed until June and Apple came through to deliver it early and beat several other tablets to market. Whether Apple itself is the source of some of these rumors, is an unknown, but if they are, they are doing a great job of getting free publicity. What has now prompted more rumors about the delivery of the next generation iPhone is the announcement by Apple of the Worldwide Developers Conference this year, which is going to be held in June. It is normally held in the spring several months before the iPhone is released.

It is that announcement that has so many speculating as to what this means. Much of this makes sense, but with Apple, you never know. At the developers conference, Apple provides information so that app developers can make changes to their apps to take advantage of the changes, so with the coming IOS 5, there is an expectation of new things to be included and the developers need a few months to get changes done before the IOS is released along with the phone. Based on that information, it does make sense that it would be delayed until the fall.

There are other rumors about the iPhone 5 having the much talked about NFC chips for mobile payments even though they could not be taken advantage of until the end of the year. With a later release date of the fall, they would be that much closer to providing the hardware and software for that to work. Granted that is speculation, but it does add up when adding all the other items in.

Other comments from some are saying that the June event will be all about software and there will not be hardware being shown. That would tend to indicate that the iPhone 5 is being delayed and does make sense. Better to have a well prepared developer side when the phone is actual rolled out.

The other thing that is not being speculated about is the impact of the events in Japan which are continuing this week as they try and gain control of nuclear reactors. Their power problems which are requiring rolling black outs make it almost impossible for some businesses to produce much and if there are components that come from Japan for the iPhone 5, a June launch date could be tough to get the needed parts to assemble the phones in a timely manner.

All of this is speculation and as June approaches, there will be much more.