Leaked Best Buy memo points to Oct. iPhone 5 launch; confirms Sprint iPhone

Best Buy seems to be the home of the iPhone 5 leaks, with another new leaked memo following up on an earlier one. This new leak seems to confirm that the nation's No. 3 carrier, Sprint, will be getting the iPhone 5, as was previously rumored

This new leak seems to conflict with the earlier leak, however. According to the new memo, Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile are beginning training for an October launch. The memo says "pre-sales begin for October week 1 launch / Sprint launches iPhone 5." More information is cut off in the BGR image, but the memo also says "Apple product introduction / Launch dates subject to change."

It's very clear: Sprint will get the iPhone 5. What's not clear, as far as a launch / intro goes, is the exact date of an iPhone 5 launch. It's already been read two ways by BGR; it seems to indicate that the iPhone 5 will launch in the first week of October, as was noted earlier. It's also not clear if the Sprint version would carry Sprint's 4G WiMax or not, but we'd bet against it, since LTE isn't in the cards for the iPhone 5, either.

On the other hand, this goes against the recent information about an Apple fixture install on October 21, one that requires the unusual step of having a Best Buy manager in-store at 6 a.m. The source of that leak said that's the same procedure that was taken for the launch of the iPhone 4.

The earlier leak, therefore, points to an iPhone 5 launch on Oct. 21, which is more in line with recent reports from the Wall Street Journal, which mentioned "mid-October" for the launch.

In addition, the odds of an announcement this week are slim to none. Why? Apple isn't going to hold an event of this magnitude without giving media advance notice. Typically, it's at least a week advance notice (just check past events).

That doesn't mean it won't be introduced in October, but it does mean we're not going to see pre-orders and this week, since it hasn't even been introduced yet.

Of additional import is a report that Apple has begun iOS 5 and iCloud training for its Apple retail store employees. Apple has, in recent memory, rolled out its major iOS releases just prior to an iPhone launch, so that also points to a "coming soon" iPhone 5 launch.

The one clear thing out of all this seems to be that Sprint will finally get the iPhone. Since Verizon earlier said it had no exclusivity on the CDMA version of the iPhone, it's been expected.

The only other clear (yet still vague) thing is that the iPhone 5 will be coming "soon." A flood of rumors like this means it's nearly here.