By Aidan Malley

Published: 08:05 PM EST (05:05 PM PST)

An AT&T representative raised the first hint of a specific launch day for the iPhone. Simultaneously, two pieces of software entered testing in the Apple community: one an important hack for the Apple TV, and another the highly sought-after Office 2008.

iPhone release date rumor spreads like wildfire

News.com's Declan McCullagh rejuvenated the iPhone frenzy on Friday by claiming late the night before that AT&T had confirmed June 11th as the Apple gadget's official launch day. The journalist cited a customer service manager from the cellular giant's sales department as the source of the claim.

The date would be otherwise dismissible if not for its fitting perfectly with the start of Apple's WWDC developer expo, which begins the same day and will most likely see Steve Jobs provide an opening keynote that could mention a ship date.

The conference rarely touches on consumer products, however, and readers should know that sales agents are rarely provided with these details months ahead of a projected release. Apple has only set the iPhone's launch for sometime in June.

Apple TV's USB port exploited

Yet another of Apple's safeguards on its Apple TV media hub was compromised this week when hackers published info proving that they had circumvented restrictions on the lone USB port for the device.

Cracking the protections opened up one of the last obstacles to complete access to the hub's features. Where the USB connector is only recognized by Apple as a service tool, the newly freed version makes possible keyboards, mice, and other input devices that bring the Apple TV closer to its computer-like origins than the Apple Remote.

The disclosure is the third major exploit following the Mac software installs and booting from different hardware.

Office 2008 reaches beta stage

Microsoft revealed on Friday through an interview that its Office 2008 suite had entered the beta phase, moving the productivity software one step closer to completion.

"We're in private betas right now," said Microsoft's Mac Business Unit marketing exec Sheridan Jones.

The development staff was unwilling to predict if or when the software might be opened to the public, but reiterated the importance of the ribbon-like user interface (revealed first at Macworld San Francisco) that seeks to avoid dependence on menus, also highlighting the advanced "Escher" visual engine that helps improve page layouts.

"Part of our mission with Office 2008 is to expose all the things that are already there and make the product easier to use," Jones noted.

Office 2008 is the first Intel-native version of the Microsoft package and is due in the second half of this year.

Apple Store Rome: first photos appear

Finally, Apple on Friday held a special preview event to showcase Apple Store Roma Est, the Mac maker's first self-run store in Italy as well as in mainland Europe as a whole.

The store, which AppleInsider revealed in an exclusive report as early as June of last year, is situated in one of Rome's newest shopping malls. A video as well as an extensive photo gallery show the retail space to be one of Apple's larger non-flagship stores, with a large center aisle and a full-sized Genius Bar.

The store will hold its grand opening Saturday, March 31st, at 9 AM local time.