When Apple was courting carriers for the iPhone in the early stages of its development, Verizon was the first carrier they dealt with. Unfortunately, Verizon did not want to meet Apple’s guidelines for selling the iPhone through them. For example, Apple wanted sole control over how the phone would be serviced, or if needed, be swapped out. Verizon wasn’t having any of this, because they, like Apple, control how the phones they sell are serviced.
Enter AT&T. Apple’s next carrier they spoke with was AT&T. AT&T was more than happy to accommodate Apple. This proved to be most fruitful for AT&T as a cell phone carrier. Verizon must have been kicking themselves after they saw how well the iPhone was selling through AT&T. Since then, rumors of the iPhone being on Verizon’s network were rampant. With every new model of the iPhone, there was a rumor attached to it that this year it would be on Verizon’s network. Well, it appears that the wait is over.
Yukari Iwatani Kane, Ting-I Tasi, and Niraj Sheth of WSJ.com , are reporting that the iPhone is coming to Verizon’s network. AT&T however is stating that this is speculation as stated below:
“An AT&T spokesman said: “There has been lots of incorrect speculation on CDMA iPhones for a long time. We haven’t seen one yet and only Apple knows when that might occur.” Apple declined to comment.”
In light of this news WSJ.com goes on to comment how Apple is planning on releasing a new iPhone this summer, in keeping up with their upgrade cycle. They kind of state the usual, that the iPhone will be thinner and have a faster processor.
As for the Verizon iPhone’s production and release, WSJ.com quotes a person familiar with the situation:
“…Pegatron is scheduled to start mass producing CDMA iPhones in September. Other people said, however, that the schedule could change and the phone may not be available to consumers immediately after production begins.”
I seriously doubt that Apple would break their cycle for iPhone releases, by releasing them at the end of the year. This to me sounds like speculation. If anything they would release the Verizon iPhone along side the AT&T iPhone. This would give consumers a choice to pick their carrier, plus most consumer’s contracts would be up.
I think it would be an excellent idea if Apple had more than one carrier for the iPhone in the United States. It would be extremely helpful in load balancing AT&T’s already over-saturated cell network. Exclusivity doesn’t always have it’s perks. Would you get a Verizon iPhone? Leave a comment in the comments section below, and let us know if you’ve been waiting for the iPhone on the Verizon network.
Photo Credit: iPhone 4
Article Via WSJ.com
