Verizon and the iPhone

Ever since the iPhone was released, in 2007, there has been talk of it moving to Verizon's CDMA network. Recently the rumours have been stronger than ever; especially with the latest predictions that the iPhone will finally make the inevitable move to Verizon at Apples "Come see our new creation" event on 27th January. A quote from Brainstorm Tech reads "Verizon iPhone unveiling next week?" is followed by a further quote from an analyst saying, "We believe there is a good chance".

The only way that the iPhone could work on Verizon is if it were to be given CDMA capabilities. As it is now the iPhone does not have these capabilities, so there are only two ways that Apple could crack a deal with Verizon:

1. Not so long ago a chip was released that supported CDMA and GSM networks. If Apple took advantage of this chip they could in theory release a new version of the iPhone on both networks. Now that seems all very well, but of course there is a down side. To include this chip it would dramatically decrease the iPhones battery life, which is bad enough all ready. Also i would presume it would be much more expensive. But above all these things it would be moving backwards, the CDMA technology is old as it is and will soon be overtaken by Verizon's upcoming LTE network. It is against all Apple stands for to move backwards just to please customers now, but to cause great difficulty for themselves later. A perfect example of this is flash on the iPhone; Apple are waiting for HTML 5 so they don't have to drain the iPhones battery with flash support.

2. The second option is of course to have a second iPhone with just CDMA support. The chances of Apple doing this are nearly impossible they would never have a secondary model just for Verizon, would they?

Basically what I’m trying to get at is that Apple will not release an iPhone on Verizon until Verizon rolls out their LTE network, sometime in late 2010. Of course I could be entirely wrong and this time next week there may be a Verizon iPhone available for purchase, but i am willing to bet my mac that they wont. Read More...

Tags: verizon, iPhone,