Verizon + iPhone 4g = ??

By Christian Gudino

Many of you have probably read about the iPhone 4G coming to Verizon "soon". This was made public by a comment from Bloomberg news citing two anonymous officials who claimed that Apple Inc. and Verizon were in talks over the possible collaboration and distribution of the iPhone. If this is true, then save your hard earned dollars for that January launch date!

But lets get real. If this news is true, I am sure the guys at BGR would have had some kind of inkling of a new iPhone with CDMA radio being tested by the FCC. Every time there is something major coming, there are always leaks of a test model at the FCC, and to get a rumor going they usually find some documentation that was supplied to the FCC for pre-approval. We have seen this for all of the iPhones and other cell phones that people desire. People dig and dig till they get a scrap of information.

There are indeed some other things to consider. This is not unprecedented; indeed, Bloomberg has a history of making claims like this before. In 2009, the VP of AT&T stated that Apple would peruse other markets compatible with AT&T's own GSM network, such as T-Mobile USA, and just recently the Exc. Spokes Person for Verizon dispelled this new rumor.





Still there are more considerations as well. Both Verizon and AT&T are going to LTE 4G networks. Apple doesn't want to play nice with CDMA and has no plans to upgrade the iPhone to a CDMA device. Just because it is called 4G, it doesn't make it a 4G device; it is just the 4th Generation iPhone. If Apple were to make an iPhone for the LTE 4G network, I could see this being on both Verizon and AT&T, but of course we would get a wiff of that from some anonymous source with something to back them up... say maybe proto-type iPhone running LTE?? But since these networks aren't even up yet i doubt they are even making one. Most of these LTE networks aren't even supposed to be fully operational until the end of 2011. Jeez! That is almost a year and a half away! In the mean time, T-Mobile's AWS LTE network is up and running and so is Sprints 4G WiMax network.

If you are thinking of holding off until the new phone comes out, it probably will not happen until a year or more from now. So sit back and enjoy the ride (or just get yourself an Android device!)