Tech Rumor of the Day: Apple

As the excitement builds for Palm's (PALM Quote) Pre debut on June 6, analysts are warning that Apple (AAPL Quote) may forgo introducing the new iPhone next week and hold a separate ceremony next month instead.

Analysts Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster and Oppenheimer's Yair Reiner both issued notes Thursday warning investors that Apple may disappoint the fans who are expecting the new iPhone to be the centerpiece of the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, which starts Monday in San Francisco.

Munster, for one, is holding out hope for a mid-July launch of "a family of iPhones." Presumably that would include a feature-packed "pro" model and a lower-priced iPhone -- though not necessarily the $99 phone many have recently come to expect.

Even The Wall Street Journal's well-respected gadget guy Walt Mossberg, in his mostly glowing review of the Palm Pre on Thursday, offered a somewhat mixed prediction for the iPhone's arrival.

Mossberg is considered to be more in-the-know that the average tech hack since he is often granted early access to devices, and sometimes he's privy to announcement dates.

At the begnning of his review of the Palm Pre, Mossberg compares the Pre to "the new iPhone to be unveiled next week." Later, he writes about the new iPhone hardware, "likely available within a month."

Close readers may see a distinction in the two mentions of the iPhone. The thinking is that Apple's development conference is a software showcase where executives -- apparently not including Steve Jobs -- will gush about the innovations in the iPhone 3.0 and Snow Leopard operating systems.