Apple is now making a version of the iPhone 4 for Verizon’s network, after more than three years of using only AT&T cellphone networks. According to a person who is in direct contact with Apple. Apple and Verizon will begin selling the phone early next year, said the person, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the plans were supposed to be confidential and he did not want to alienate his contacts at Apple.
The iPhone is now available only through AT&T Inc. Adding Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest mobile phone operator, could significantly boost sales of Apple’s phones, which face rising competition from smartphones that use Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Now the WSJ may have its top secret sources somewhere in Cupertino, and we wouldn’t be surprised to hear this was a well orchestrated leak, but it looks like they aren’t the only paper in town that’s ready to confirm the CDMA iPhone for Verizon.
In fact, the New York Times, according to sources of its own, which are clearly different than the WSJ’s sources, is claiming that “Apple plans to offer iPhone on Verizon.” Our Robert showed you various quotes of the revised WSJ article, so let’s focus today on what the NYT has to say about this matter: Facing intense competition from phone makers wedded to Google’s Android software, Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, finally plans to make the iPhone available on Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the United States.
It’s long been rumored that a version of the iPhone would soon be made for Verizon Wireless. A Verizon Wireless executive earlier this week downplayed the possibility of an iPhone using the company’s current network. The executive suggested that an iPhone could be made available later for a faster Verizon Wireless network.
But in an interview this week, Tony Melone, the chief technology officer of Verizon Wireless, suggested that those doubters could be wrong. Mr. Melone did not comment on the iPhone, but he said that while Verizon would begin introducing its new network in 38 American cities by the end of the year, the company’s older 3G network would continue to grow for several years. He also said that Verizon would continue “selling 3G devices well into the decade, possibly through the end of the decade.”
However, while L.T.E. phones will be backward-compatible so they can run on Verizon’s older 3G network, those 3G phones won’t run on the new, faster L.T.E. network. The arrival of the iPhone to Verizon could further increase Apple’s bottom line, with some analysts predicting the company could sell an additional 10 million devices per year. But analysts say that investors have long expected Apple and Verizon to come to terms eventually, and Apple’s stock price already reflects that.
Indeed, over the last year, a flurry of reports have predicted a Verizon iPhone was imminent. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the iPhone would be available on Verizon early next year.
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