According to iPhoneItalia they have a “very reliable source” who claims that Apple will be launching the iPhone 5 on October 5th on Swisscom’s network. The source is a senior executive at Swisscom. The story says that the October 5th date is the “rest of the world” date. In other words one month after the US release date: September 5th.

Apple would inform wireless carriers of their iPhone 5 intentions ahead of time, so there may be something here, but for now it is just a rumor that is unconfirmed.

Amazon is shipping HP’s first webOS tablet on July 17th, but the TouchPad will go on sale to Americans on July 1st, with the UK, Ireland, France and Germany a few days later and Canada in mid-July. After that, there will be a phased rollout for Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain later in the year.

It will cost $499.99 (16GB) / $599.99 (32GB) with pre-orders starting ten days from today. HP will be partnering with AT&T for a 3G edition later in the summer.

This isn’t official, but Synnex has possibly leaked some info on the HP Touchpad. According to some listings on its website, the HP TouchPad is estimated to be available on June 22nd in both 16GB and 32GB capacities for $499.99 and $599.99.

If you are looking for accessories, an HP-branded TouchPad case is also listed. Of course, that date is an ETA not an actual release date, but it’s pretty close to the last official word out of HP. Shouldn’t be long now anyway.

The HTC Thunderbolt has another firmer launch date now, through this latest rumor. Not one, but two insiders are saying that the phone will ship on March 21. BGR says that the tips came from fairly new sources, but also that HTC’s Facebook page briefly mentioned the same date. So it seems more reliable.

The phone was originally thought to have a mid-February release, with dates being repeatedly pushed back. This may be due to poor battery life that needed some firmware fixes, but we don’t even have official word on that.

According to BGR, multiple sources have said that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook will hit store shelves on April 10th. They also have news that the BlackBerry Tablet OS will reach Gold Master status on March 31st, so it will be delivered as an update when you first boot up your device.

It matches what we’ve been hearing and RIM did promise a release for the first quarter of 2011, though we still don’t know which carriers will be providing connectivity on the tablet. Hopefully we will learn more soon.

The latest crazy conspiracy theory on the internet is that the iPad 2′s announcement date can be found on some stock images of the iPad. Apparently, the iPad will be announced on February 9 because in the stock image, the calendar has the date “Wednesday, 9″ and February 9th of this year falls on a Wednesday.

Wow. That’s some fine leaps in logic. However, when the current iPad was announced, it was on Wednesday 27, a date which has been prominent in some iPad stock images. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps we should consult the Mayan calendar.

We finally have the US launch details of the Nintendo 3DS. The price is $249.99 and the release date is March 27, while Europeans will get it on March 25. Nintendo says that “30+” games will be available in the US during the launch, with more than 25 in Europe.

Europeans will have some exclusive 3D video content like sports footage and episodes of Shaun the Sheep. Not sure if we are getting anything exclusive or not. We will know soon enough.

It’s been a hard wait for future E7 owners. You could have bought yourself an N8 instead, but you have stayed the course. And now your wait is almost over. Nokia has announced that the 4-inch tilting QWERTY handset will start shipping out on the 10th of next month.

Great news. Just hang in there. It won’t be long now. Resist the urge to get the N8, or not, it’s up to you. The excitement is palpable, but just take a deep breath.

We can thank Japanese accessory creator keysfactory for a slip that may have revealed Nintendo’s plans in regard to the 3DS release date. A designer with the firm posted some Twitter updates (now deleted) that 11 add-ons for the game console would ship on November 20 and, apparently the 3DS itself. Nintendo has implied an end-of-year launch in at least Japan but hasn’t given us a firm date so far.

It’s not confirmed, but the details line up with Nintendo’s recent launch history. The Wii, DSi and DSi XL were all released on a Saturday, and Nintendo often prefers weekend launches.

According to Vodafone’s UK website, HTC’s Android-based Magic will be available on May 5th.

The new phone is the second Android phone to launch in the UK following T-Mobile’s HTC-made G1. It was originally due out on April 17th, but was delayed due to “a last minute hardware change”. If you need a refresher, some features include a 3.2-inch QVGA touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity as well as GPS.

Here’s some news that we have all been waiting for. Soon. Yes, very soon you’ll be able to get your hands on a genuine DSi in North America on April 5th. The handheld will launch for $169.99 and will include dual cameras and the ability to download content called DSiWare which starts at 200 DSi Points.

The handhelds will come in blue or black colors, but we will see more choices down the road.

Here’s a great conversation piece that any photographer should appreciate. Even non-photographers will want to keep track of the date with this Camera Lens Calendar. It beats those boring paper calendars. Just adjust the focus rings until the current day and date are aligned.

It’s from the mind of designer Sharad Haksar and believe it or not it’s already headed to stores, but there’s no info on price. I’m sure it will be a hit. Then he can make one that’s powered and snaps pics for visual reminders that you need on a calendar. It could display such pics on the camera side of the lens.