White iPhone finally launching worldwide tomorrow

After a long wait, the white iPhone 4 is finally launching worldwide tomorrow.

"The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it's beautiful," Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said today in a statement. "We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we've worked to get every detail right."

Apple first unveiled the white iPhone last June with the announcement of the iPhone 4. Like the black version of the smartphone, the white model comes with a Retina display and a front-facing camera for FaceTime video chatting.

Not long after last June's announcement of the white smartphone, Apple acknowledged that production issues would delay the device's launch to July. Further issues forced the company to push the release to late 2010. Following another admission by Apple that it could not meet its self-imposed deadline, the company promised a spring 2011 launch.

Although Apple did say last July that the alternate color was proving "more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected," the company has never publicly detailed the exact nature of the problems.

And finally, after nearly a year of broken promises, Apple has stuck to a release date.

When CEO Steve Jobs first unveiled the white iPhone 4, the device was only slated to be available to AT&T customers, since Apple had not yet announced its Verizon partnership. However, Apple noted today that the white iPhone will be available to both AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. The device will be sold in those carriers' stores, as well as in the Apple Store and other retail outlets.

In addition to the U.S., the white iPhone will be launched tomorrow in the U.K., Canada, Japan, China, and several other countries. The white iPhone will retail for $199 and $299 for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively.

Previous versions of the iPhone had white backs, but the new white iPhone 4 is the first to be fully wrapped in white.