hey, just wondering, when the iPhone was first announced it took months to ship cos it had to be cleared by the fcc.

so, does anyone know if upgrades to a model will be held back that long as well?

All mobile phones sold in the US have to be cleared by the FCC, and it usually takes about six months. FCC submissions don't tell you a whole lot about features, and not even a whole lot about form (example here). Apple announced the iPhone prior to making their FCC submission last time because the filing would have been confirmation that there was such a thing as the iPhone. This time around that shouldn't be an issue, unless there's some sort of game-changing design/feature that would be revealed by the FCC submission.

Of course, given how secretive Apple are it's just as likely that they'll do the same thing again. Or they could release it overseas first in a country where FCC-equivalent submissions are not public record.

thanks tcn33.

i think i'm finally getting a damn iphone, i just wanted to know whether i'd possibly have to wait months for the announcement, then months again for a new model.

As it's highly likely the 3G iphone will first debut in the USA, having to pass the FCC (as it will be a new product technically, transmitting on different frequency) will give us a few months warning on an impending release. So as long as people keep an eye out for it, I suspect the first signs will appear there.

However, Steve may well hold another keynote around mid year, announce it and then appear on shelves a couple of months later once its passed FCC.

Either way I don't see 3G until at LEAST middle of the year..I'm guessing 3rd quarter

I've just been checking the status of the similar regulations here in Europe - CE Marking - and it looks like it can be done in-house - and I can't recall any public announcement - the release of the iPhone here was 5 months after the US release.

I know that the media here in Europe have really bashed the iPhone for it's lack of 3g as it cost the networks here around £22b to buy the frequency here in the UK alone.

I also note that Australia seems to use the CE mark as well....

I think that a company can ask the FCC to withhold publication for quite some time until testing is nearly complete. I recollect the iphone was not published by the FCC until about six weeks before release.

But of course, once the iphone was given to the FCC, Apple could no longer control leaks.