Today in iOS Podcast - The Unofficial iOS, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch News and iPhone Apps Podcast : I am now on the Verizon iPhone Bandwagon

I am now on the Verizon iPhone Bandwagon

Sat, 8 January 2011

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The Verizon iPhone rumor started back on . I have since that time been saying 2012 for the Verizon iPhone. I am now changing my tune and officially jumping on the...

The Verizon iPhone rumor started back on . I have since that time been...

The Verizon iPhone rumor started back on November 27th 2007. I have since that time been saying 2012 for the Verizon iPhone. I am now changing my tune and officially jumping on the Verizon iPhone rumor Bandwagon. I think the Verizon iPhone will be announced on 1/11/11 at 11:00 AM ET at Verizon's Special event - Just 1141 days since the original rumor surfaced. Here are the reasons why I think this will finally happen.

1. The Verizon Event is 2 days after CES - why not have the event at CES with all the press there already. It would mean the event needs to be something that does not fit in with CES - Like an Apple Announcement.

2. Gizmodo is not invited to the event.

3. MG Sigler is invited - personally and not through tech crunch. MG is the biggest iPhone proponent at Tech Crunch and sometimes the only iPhone Proponent at Tech Crunch.

4. The Event is in NY - the city that is by far the worst of all the Cities for the iPhone on AT&T. What a nice little Jab at AT&T to have it there. I mean invite the press most of which have iPhones to the one place their iPhones will not work. Both Evil and Brilliant at the same time.

5. AT&T just lowered the pricing of the iPhone 3GS to $49, plus you had the lower prices in December for the iPhone from Radio Shack, Best Buy, Sams Club and Radio Shack again. Seems like AT&T is trying to get as many people locked into two more years as they could before the Verizon announcement.

The Stars are all aligning for a Verizon iPhone announcement on 1/11/11 at 11:00 AM. If Verizon does not announce the iPhone at the event, they will have jumped the PR shark even more so than Apple did with their lame Beatles Announcement last year. But at least with that Apple had the good foresight not to invite the press to a special event - just a web page.

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12Comments

Tilman 2011-01-14 16:59:59

I stand corrected. They did exactly what I thought would be the least likely thing to do: Two incompatible versions of the same phone. So hard to distinguish from on another that there are going to be tons of missunderstandings for the users - especially on the second hand marked. But I guess that is not a big concern for Apple... Anyway, I'm happy for anyone who has bad AT&T coverage or does not like them for other reasons!
Tyler 2011-01-11 14:43:14

I still don't see this happening today... they're probably gonna introduce something stupid like a droid2000. i was kinda surprised you got in on this Rob! oh well, if it does happen, my sister-in-law will finally shut up about all the rumors!!
PaulG in Lawrenceville 2011-01-10 20:10:36

OK how about VZ announces unlimited data plans + free tethering - oh, and a White iPhone 4? All in good speculative fun... BTW, Nokia and RIM make CDMA and GSM devices as will any maker who wants wide market coverage. The devices are not exactly the same since carriers influence the dev teams at those manufacturers
Rob W 2011-01-10 15:43:29

Tilman - Actually CDMA is also used on the largest Carrier in China and also in South Korea - So it is not just the US. Per CDMA making Sense $ wise. Verizon will sell conservatively well over 5 Million iPhones in 2011. Probably a lot more than that. Apple will make well over a Billion dollars in profit. That is more than enough to cover the costs of the CDMA only version. On the other hand there are chips that do allow for switching between GSM and CDMA - Qualcom makes what is known as a World Chip set. But likely the Verizon iPhone will just be CDMA.
Tilman 2011-01-10 11:12:21

With all the rumors and signs - how about the technical side of things? Have I missed a change? Verizons network (CDMA) is technically not compatible with AT&Ts network (GSM&UMTS). If Apple would manage to make a phone which is able to work on both standards, I would be amazed and surprised. That would be great but is not very likely as I don't think many - if any - phones like this exist (smart or not). Two different versions of the iPhone are unlikely as well. CDMA is not used anywhere else in the world. So Verizons choice for CDMA - while big in the US - is totally unique in the rest of the world. I don't have a preference for or against Verizon or AT&T but I just do not see two different versions of the iPhone. The US marked is the largest single market for Apple but in comparison to the rest of the world it does not seem to be that attractive to go through R&D as well as the confusion of two different versions of the phone for ONE carrier in ONE of many countries. If someone is technically more sound than me and knows if it is possible to have one phone working in both network standards, I would be very interested to hear about that. Other than that, the numbers just don't add up. I say NO CDMA iPhone and am looking forward to be proven wrong ;-)
PaulG in Lawrenceville 2011-01-08 15:51:08

Apple/VZ combo is good thing for all - including AT&T (see logic below). The press event invites perhaps went out sometime yesterday after market closed. CNBC news crawls were silent until late. And now all the news networks are crawling with the anticipated announcement. No big deal that you looked for good signs before jumping on the bandwagon - but here's a challenge for us over the weekend: What will be different with a VZ iPhone? - I mean beyond the obvious price war coming. Here's my first speculation...look for creative tethering choices from VZ for iPhone. I didn't notice an iPad 3G/4G tease, so perhaps users will be given low or no cost tethering for an iPad, iPod Touch or Mac (via a Mac App) Let the speculation begin ;-) How is this good for AT&T Mobility? They have been asleep at the wireless wheel since iPhone came out. Ralph de la Vega is stretched thin with consumer marketing, sales, content and converged services, customer care and operations for wireless and wireline services. He is a smart guy (know that from my own work). Now he will need to sharpen the knives to compete better with VZ. The iPhone has helped AT&T make up for revenue lost from wireline erosion and now the new VZ competition will force better wireless product/service choices to capture share. Look for better plans, tethering and MiFi integration (AT&T has been way late on those fronts). Just my 2 cents...
Max M 2011-01-08 15:24:19

Rob, One dark night about two months ago I started following the wagon train. Then a few weeks ago, on a cold dark night, just as the wagon train passed from within the tunnel, I jumped it. Not only did I jump it, I jumped right in the coal hopper, you know, where the fuel to steam this rig is kept. Full steam ahead my friend, full steam. Thanks for keeping us in the iOS know.
Tom Haynes 2011-01-08 15:18:45

I'll stick with AT&T. My call service is fine, data seems faster than when I was on a VERIZON smartphone. Plus, I couldn't use data and voice at the same time when I was on VERIZON. Has that changed? Besides, if a whole lot of people switch to VERIZON, won't those who stay with T get better data service that's less congested?
Villageaudiot 2011-01-08 14:21:02

It will be interesting to see the AT&T reaction to the apparent breach of the oft-referenced exclusivity contract.
Rob W 2011-01-08 02:50:04

Frank - I was actually waiting until there was some real - you know - Proof. Not the wild speculation like has been thrown around for the past 3+ years. And missing it would have been holding out until after the official announcement. I actually just barely made it. :)
Stacey Smith 2011-01-08 01:36:59

I think those look like pretty good signs. Good analysis. I'll be staying with AT&T as I've had good service with them.
Frank 2011-01-08 00:13:37

Really? NOW you're getting on the bandwagon. Why didn't you just wait until after the announcement? You missed this one, my friend. :-)