Hasta La Gadget!

The Captain Ahab analogies are proving more and more apt as time goes by. Looks like Apple’s proverbial white whale is being delayed again.

The company issued a statement apologizing for yet another pushback in the device’s launch, writing, “We’re sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone yet again, but we’ve decided to delay its release until this spring.”

Apple hasn’t issued much in the way of details surrounding the delay of the phone. Word is that the delay has to do with a slight color mismatch between the phone’s faceplate and the home button–heads would almost certainly role around Cupertino, should such an aesthetic mismatch ever make it into the wild.

This is the third time the white iPhone has been delayed since it was first announced alongside the black iPhone 4, back in June. Shortly after, Apple announced the device’s first delay, stating that the phones, “have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected.”