Yesterday, we got confirmation of the much-discussed rumor of the big Apple media event supposedly happening on October 4th. Apple began sending out invitations to the event, which will in fact occur on the 4th at 10 am PST. The event will be hosted by Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook at their current campus in Cupertino.

At the event, Apple is expected to discuss the new iPhone – an expectation that was confirmed by the invitation’s only words: “Let’s talk iPhone.”

If the unveiling of the new device is going down on October 4th, when will it actually hit the shelves? When can you get your hands on the new iPhone?

“Reliable sources” as Google+Reader”>quoted by The Next Web say that the iPhone 5 will become available on Friday, October 14th. This date corresponds with what we’ve been hearing for a long time – that a mid-October release was highly likely.

This information is bolstered by the fact that sources also say that Apple is blacking out vacation days during the second week of October. Remember, two weeks ago France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard gave the specific date of Saturday, October 15th as the iPhone 5 launch day. The 14th would make more sense than the 15th, as Fridays are a more common Apple launch day that Saturdays.

Also corroborating the October 14th release prediction is information obtained by BGR from a “trusted AT&T source.” They say that AT&T has started to black out all employee vacations requests for the first two weeks of October, apparently so they can prepare for the big release.

Other recent iPhone rumors you might want to check out:

Is the iPhone 5 coming to Sprint, and if so, with an unlimited data plan?

The iPhone 5 is going to come with awesome new voice control features

Is is possible that we might see two new iPhones this fall?