October 14th Launch for iPhone 4S/5 in US, UK, France, Germany, Japan? [Updated]

Japanese site Mac Otakara reports that Apple may be preparing to launch the iPhone 5 (or 4S or both) on October 14th in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan.

The report cites earlier comments from France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard regarding an October 15th launch for the device on that carrier and reports of Apple retail store employee vacation blackouts for October 14th and 15th, but seems to have its own independent information regarding an October 14th launch.

Apple is reportedly holding a media event next Tuesday, October 4th to introduce the new iPhone, and an October 14th launch for the device would be in line with Apple's usual interval between announcement and availability and would line up most closely with previous rumors of a mid-October launch.

Mac Otakara has occasionally offered accurate information in the past, although several of its claims also failed to come true. Back in August, the site claimed that the iPhone 4S and iPad 3 would debut at a media event in early October with availability set for late October. iPad 3 rumors had been swirling at the time, but were later discounted as reported indicated that Apple will be pushing the iPad 3 with Retina display back to an early 2012 introduction.

Update: The Next Web is also hearing word of an October 14th launch date, with iOS 5 perhaps appearing for current hardware on October 12th. Previous reports have suggested that iOS 5 could debut on October 10th.