Published in Mobiles

Verizon iPhone announcement likely Tuesday

by on10 January 2011
verizon_logoiphone_4_logo_new

They are holding a press conference about something big
We spent a lot of time trying to learn if the Tuesday press conference that Verizon is holding is actually going to be an announcement that they have secured a deal for the first CDMA/EVDO iPhone. What we know is that the AT&T exclusive is ending and Apple has been doing a lot of talking with Verizon.

Sources and Analysts we have spoken with over the weekend feel that Tuesday Verizon will officially announce that the iPhone is coming. It is expected that Steve Jobs will make an appearance at the Verizon event in person or by video, according to the whispers that we have heard.

It is tough to predict how much of an impact this will have on AT&T, but analysts we have spoken with over the weekend suggest that the impact could be much greater than everyone might think. Numbers as high as 5 or 6 million subscribers might jump from AT&T to Verizon if they have the chance, according to our sources. The good news for Apple is that they are going to sell a lot of phones right out of the gate by adding Verizon as a carrier in the US.

The biggest impact, however, might be that of the Android platform phones, as the addition of the iPhone on Verizon might sway potential customers in another direction and could have a bigger impact than expected.

The critical news about the Verizon iPhone is about what it will not offer, which is LTE support. As with the first generation iPhone on AT&T, the Verizon iPhone will not support the new latest 4G network from Verizon. It is expected that the Verizon iPhone will get LTE support down the road, but it could be 2012 or later before Verizon customers actually get it.

Meanwhile, the next rumored refresh of the AT&T iPhone is said to support AT&T’s new 4G intuitive, which isn’t LTE, but it will offer higher network speed and performance; however, users will have to have the new model to use it. It is rumored that AT&T will get an iPhone with LTE support before Verizon, which might be ironic, as Verizon is much further along on their LTE build out than AT&T is.


Rate this item
(2 votes)

Read more about: