I'm confused and obviously missing something here - Orange UK have White iPhone 4s available for sale on their website:

http://shop.orange.co.uk/iphone/choose-your-4g-plan

Is there some other variant that I'm too uncool to know about? :)

Once you select the white one and a plan, it says out-of-stock on the right hand side. And it has never been in stock.

White is the new black: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrybold/#!where-...

How is it even remotely of interest that Apple is capable of producing a phone in a different color, and may in fact be doing so?

I think the interesting bit is that Apple apparently isn't capable of producing a white iPhone. They've missed their deadline by 4 months already and they've just announced another 4-5 month delay.

Technically no one knows exactly why the white iphone hasn't been released. I've seen plenty of solid 'leaks' claiming button colors and camera problems, but no one really knows the real reason. It could be strategic for all anyone knows at this point.