Ever since the 2001 arrival of the iPod, Apple's Steve Jobs has had a penchant for unveiling new products and making them immediately available for sale.

iPhone

But because of the lengthy FCC approval process for the iPhone, Jobs was unable to capitalize on that media-fed momentum this time. When he unveiled the much-hyped music-playing phone at MacWorld in January, he said it would be in stores sometime in June, setting off several months of feverish speculation among diehards as to when the iPhone would see the light of day.

CNET News.com's Declan McCullough said late yesterday that he's cracked the case, and that the iPhone will be in stores on June 11. McCullough called AT&T/Cingular customer service and was transferred to sales, where he was informed of the date.

June 11 coincides perfectly with the annual Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, which runs from June 11-15.

Once it does go on sale, however, there might be a long wait. At the CTIA Wireless 2007 conference in Orlando, Fla. this week, AT&T COO Randall Stephenson said the company had heard from more than 1 million customers who wanted more information about the iPhone.

In his speech at the CTIA show, Eric Nicoli, chairman of UK music giant EMI Group, singled out Apple's iPhone as something the rest of the music and digital music industries should emulate.

"Apple makes stuff that people love to own," Nicoli said. "They love the simplicity and user-friendliness of the iPod and iTunes. Apple doesn't employ any sorcery or dark magic to achieve this. They listen to what consumers want. And that shouldn't be Apple's unique privilege."