Yesterday the web was ablaze with new rumors that Apple is developing two iPhones, one of which would be for the Verizon network. Deep-seeded unhappiness with AT&T’s network only helped fuel the rumors across the web.
The reality though is that little is known about the supposed “Verizon iPhone.” Nobody knows if it even exists, and anyone who claims otherwise is lying to you (unless, of course, that person is Steve Jobs).
So, is Verizon getting an iPhone this year? Next year? Does it even exist at all? It’s time to separate rumor from fact and iterate what we know about the mythical Verizon iPhone thus far.
Signs Point to a Verizon iPhone … Eventually
There have been rumors for some time now that Apple would drop AT&T exclusivity, but it has yet to come to fruition. The chatter really started heating up last year when rumors surfaced that Apple and Verizon were already testing a 4G iPhone. Of course, nobody from either company has confirmed it.
Some rumors do match Monday’s Wall Street Journal report, though, giving the Verizon iPhone some life. The assertion that Apple has contracted to produce a CDMA-compatible iPhone for the third quarter 2010 matches the timeframe given in the WSJ for an iPhone on the Verizon network.
There’s more, too. According to TheStreet, a Qualcomm chip will power the Verizon iPhone. And yet more people say that T-Mobile will get the iPhone this summer.
Overall, it’s a hodgepodge of data points, but they seem to point to the eventual dissolution of AT&T-iPhone exclusivity and to the introduction of a Verizon iPhone. It would most likely come late this year or early next year, since production of the device wouldn’t occur until the third quarter of 2010.
And Yet Rumors Are Often Wrong
There is no guarantee that a Verizon iPhone will be announced in June or July — when Apple normally reveals new iPhones — or that Apple will even break AT&T exclusivity. Both the rumor that the iPhone would leave AT&T exclusivity during the iPad event back in January and the assertion that Verizon would carry Apple’s tablet were wrong. Whose to say that any of these other rumors are true?
While Apple may indeed be planning a Verizon iPhone, it can change its plans at any time for any reason. AT&T’s network could improve remarkably in the next few months or Verizon may not offer enough incentives to Apple to satisfy the tech giant — there are just too many possible scenarios.
The truth is that the only person who really knows the fate of the iPhone on the Verizon network is Steve Jobs, and he’s not talking. But the signs do point towards a Verizon iPhone appearing sometime late this year or next year.
Are you waiting for a Verizon iPhone? Would you switch carriers or phones for it? Do you think we’ll see one in the next year? Let us know what you believe in the comments.
Tags: apple, att, iphone, iphone 3Gs, verizon, Verizon iPhone
