June 17, 2009, 12:24 PM — Apple Inc. won't release the iPhone 3.0 software update today until 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, according to reports on the Web citing carrier messages to their customers.
As of 11 a.m. Eastern, the smartphone's update, which Apple said last week would be delivered today, was not yet available via iTunes.
According to at least two sites, Engadget and The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), Apple carrier partners in several countries, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Sweden, have sent text messages to customers telling them of the local time when the update will be ready to download.
"According to an announcement from Telia in Sweden - iPhone OS 3.0 will be available 7pm in Sweden (GMT +2)," one Swedish user tweeted earlier today. That time in Sweden works out to 1 p.m. Eastern in the U.S.
At the moment, iPhone and iPod Touch users who click the "Check for Update" button in iTunes are told "This version of the iPhone software (2.2.1) is the current version."
Apple previewed iPhone 3.0 in March, and last week at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company touted the update's new features, including cut and paste, MMS, peer-to-peer gaming and App Store modifications for publishers and developers.
The new iPhone 3G S is scheduled to go on sale Friday, with AT&T Inc. kicking off pre-order fulfillment at 7 a.m. local time, and Apple's retail stores following at 8 a.m.
Both AT&T and Best Buy exhausted their inventories of iPhones for pre-order last weekend, while as of today, Apple's online store had deleted the text that had promised early orders would be delivered to customers on Friday.
