<div><div style="float:right;margin-bottom:10px;"><a  href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?text=sdasdasd&url=http://mashable.com/2011/09/09/sprint-iphone-5-launch-date/"><img style="border:none;margin-right:5px;" src="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/themes/v7/img/share-buttons/stumbleupon.png" align="right" /></a>
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<a  href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://mashable.com/2011/09/09/sprint-iphone-5-launch-date/&service=bit.ly&source=mashable"><img style="border:none;margin-right:5px;" width="51" height="61" src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://mashable.com/2011/09/09/sprint-iphone-5-launch-date/" align="right"/></a></div><div style="float:left;margin-bottom:10px;"><img src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/iphone-apps-360.jpg" alt="" title="iphone-apps-360" width="275" height="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-715535" /></div><div style="clear:both;"></div></div><br/>Remember when a company memo telling employees they can't take any time off in a two-week period was an occasion for gloom? That's certainly not the case with the leak of an internal memo from Sprint management, which seems to suggest the iPhone 5 will be launching -- on Sprint, as well as Verizon and AT&T -- in the first half of October.

The memo, <a href="http://www.sprintfeed.com/2011/09/internal-memo-suggests-sprint-iphone-by-october-15th/" >obtained by <em>SprintFeed</em></a>, reads: "due to the possibility of a major phone launch in October we are blacking out September 30th through October 15th." In other words, batten down the hatches. No Sprint employee is leaving the store in the first two weeks of October. Something big is coming down the pike. 

Bear in mind that we've <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/08/23/sprint-to-get-iphone-5/">seen reports since late August</a> that Sprint will be a launch partner for Apple's iPhone 5. Best Buy inadvertently confirmed that last weekend, via <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/04/iphone-5-leak-best-buy/">a leaked document</a> that claimed the Sprint iPhone 5 would be available in the first week of October. And early Friday <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/09/sprint-unlimited-data-iphone5/">came word</a> that Sprint's unlimited data plan would be available on the iPhone 5 as well as other Sprint phones -- making the number 3 carrier a serious competitor in the iPhone 5 stakes. 

Our best guess for the iPhone 5 launch date is still Friday October 7. That lines up with the Best Buy report, <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/08/19/iphone-5-october-arrival-report/">another leak</a> from an AT&T executive, <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/08/16/apple-currently-plans-to-start-pre-orders-for-next-iphone-on-sept-30-launch-oct-7/" >another report</a> from <em>9to5Mac</em> -- and it's smack dab in the middle of Sprint's blackout period. <div class="feedflare">
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