The latest news on iPhone release has brought out a new twist as Stephane Richard, CEO of France Telecom, has 'revealed' the date of iPhone 5 launch. France Telecom is the parent company of Orange.

If we believe what we have been told, the iPhone 5 will be released on 15 October, techradar.com quoted Stephane as saying.

The date coincides with Sprint's plan of banning vacation of its employees from September 30 to October 15.

According to reports from Sprint employees, iPhone 5 will be exclusively available with Sprint.

Bloomberg claimed last week that Sprint would begin selling iPhone 5 in mid-October with unlimited data plan.

Most recently, a reported leak by UK mobile carrier Vodafone appeared on the company's Web site suggesting iPhone 5 would soon be available.

Meanwhile, China's Telecom Corp. Ltd., the nation's biggest fixed-line operator, is expecting the phone to be released next month. These reports suggest that iPhone 5 will most probably be launched worldwide in October.

Most probably, iPhone 5 may be launched simultaneously in the US, France, Germany, UK, China and Japan.

It seems like Apple wants to make most use of the holiday season as Foxconn Electronics is reportedly producing up to 150,000 iPhone 5 handsets per day in a surprising move as supply chain sources indicate that iPhone 5 shipments are expected to reach up to 6 million by the end of the month and will reach 22 million units by the end of the year.

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