White iPhone 4 reportedly doomed because of color fade

Remember that white iPhone 4 that Apple Inc. (AAPL) delayed again and again?
It’s cropped up again and as with all things Apple, it would be wise to take this one with a grain of salt. Pocket-lint spotted one in the wild at a press event in New York City today and not only did it manage to snap some shots of the device, but the owner (who declined to be named) offered some information about why the white iPhone 4 is likely doomed to never see the light of day.
But first, a little back story. Just days before the iPhone 4 launch, Apple said the white version was delayed. Then, when all that fallout over the antenna problems came to a head, CEO Steve Jobs said it would be out by the end of July. The last official word from Apple about the white variant of the device came seven days later when the company pushed the target date back to the incredibly unclear “later this year.”
According to the person carrying the device, Apple has boxes of white iPhones sitting at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., but because the home button color doesn’t match the shade of white on the rest of the device, the company is declining to ship them to consumers.
Whether or not this reasoning is accurate it would fall in line with Apple’s statements about manufacturing problems causing the delay. And who knows, maybe Apple is simply cutting its losses and ramping up for a white version in its next generation of the iPhone.