Sorry WSJ, the iPhone is not coming to Verizon in January

by Justin Horn on Oct 6th, 2010 @ 2:45 pm

As I’m sure you’ve read on 20 or so other Apple blogs by now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting on rumors of a Verizon iPhone:

Apple Inc. plans to begin mass producing a new iPhone by the end of 2010 that would allow Verizon Wireless to sell the smartphone early next year, said people briefed by Apple.

The new iPhone would be similar in design to the iPhone 4 currently sold by AT&T Inc. but would be based on an alternative wireless technology called CDMA used by Verizon, these people said. The phone, for which Qualcomm Inc. is providing a key chip, is expected to be released in the first quarter of next year, according to the same people.

Quoting myself form an August 11th post responding to John Gruber’s CDMA iPhone article:

I offer a third argument, Verizon and Apple themselves. I ignored this before because I was so caught up with technical side of it, but I think this is the strongest reason for no Verizon iPhone. We know how stubborn Apple has been with the iPhone control already, letting AT&T know who is running the show. The issue here is Verizon is just as stubborn and powerful. Great example of this is Verizon, not the handset manufactures, owns the Droid name. Gruber joked today on The Talk Show: Episode 3, that a Verizon iPhone deal could fall apart because Apple says no to the Verizon logo on the back of the iPhone…it’s funny because it could be true. Also, don’t forget that Verizon has publicly bashed the iPhone with their Droid Does campaign and have very strong ties to Google (net neutrality anyone?). Remember this is the “the summer of Droid”.

As I wrote in August, I do believe a CDMA iPhone is coming, but not on Verizon. I’ll believe it when I see it.

UPDATE John Gruber brought up the point that the WSJ wasn’t saying the iPhone was coming to Verizon, just that they are making a CDMA iPhone…although I got the feeling they specifically meant a Verizon iPhone.

Now Jonathan S. Geller (aka Boy Genius) just tweeted:

Heard that WSJ will be clarifying that Verizon will indeed launch the iPhone, not just that it will be CDMA-compatible

Guess my feeling was right and still think WSJ is wrong.

Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn



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iPhone, Speculation, Verizon

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