It might have been a few years in the making. It might have even been a few years too long in the waiting. But none of that matters anymore. Verizon has officially announced that it will be teaming up with Apple to bring a CDMA version of the iPhone on its networks next month. Millions are expected to be sold already. And there are already a few differences that have become apparent.
What we know so far is that this will be a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 (so no iPhone 5 here quite yet). This also means that it will not run on Verizon’s highly touted LTE network, which the company has been pushing hard, even at this event. We can only guess that the iPhone 5 might support Verizon’s LTE network.
But this shouldn’t take away from the great news that the iPhone is finally coming to Verizon. Users might be able to be more confident that the CDMA iPhone has a new antennae design (which is expected with the new radio technology with CDMA). It is not known exactly whether this will improve performance and is in response to the criticism the iPhone had received previously on AT&T’s network with its “flawed” antennae design, and there has already been a denial from Tim Cook that these changes were anything but necessary, but it will still be interesting to see if it works any better.
We will keep you updated on any more details that come out, especially the most important: how much will it cost, what data package(s) will be offered, and when it will be available.
Update: The Verizon iPhone will cost $200 for the 16GB and $300 for the 32GB models with a two-year service agreement. It will be available on February 3 for pre order by current Verizon subscribers and on February 10 for everyone else. What isn’t known yet is the data pricing.
There are also first reports about the Verizon iPhone 4 that reveal very little has changed from the original iPhone 4. The new antennae design and hotspot support seem to be the only new features. There also appears to be no Verizon Wireless branding on the phone from a hardware or software standpoint, which is an initial sign that Apple still has complete control of their own platform.
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