Everyone wants to know exactly when the iPhone will be released, and, hey! It's so much fun to speculate. Who knew CNBC, the source of all financial (supposed) fact and opinion, would announce a launch date that was confirmed only by one iPhone store representative.

Talk about having your fingers do the walking. When the AP sought to confirm this fact, they were given estimates ranging between June 11 and June 22 from eight different stores in the New York area. No one in the financial press, popular media, or blogosphere has yet been able to find any more firm news. Is it true?

I, for one, don't believe it for a second -- taking one's information from an AT&T (NYSE: T) store rep (though they're all lovely people) seems about as reliable as getting it off the subject line in one of your spam e-mails. I'm still planning to have my cash socked away by June 11th (the start of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s Worldwide Developer's Conference and, many believe, the real launch date of the iPhone) just in case. If you're an investor, the launch date is only liable to cause an effect on the stock if it's much earlier or later than expected -- and much earlier seems highly unlikely.

Update: The iPhone release date of June 29 has been confirmed as of June 3, 2007.

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