A new report contends that Verizon Wireless will get Apple’s iPhone in January. The report, by Bloomberg News Service and based on information from “two people familiar with the plans,” is the latest in a series of rumors that have projected a similar outlook.
Some analysts estimate that Verizon could sell as many as three million iPhones per quarter. Both Verizon and Apple have declined to comment on the latest report.
An LTE iPhone?
The iPhone has been handled exclusively in the U.S. by AT&T since its launch in June 2007. The device has sold more than 50 million worldwide so far, and the most recent version, the iPhone 4, sold more than 1.7 million in its first three days. AT&T currently has about 12 million iPhone customers.
Although the rumor mill has been actively trying to figure out the duration of AT&T’s exclusivity, the details of the contract have not been made public. Some reports indicate it’s a five-year deal, although Apple’s options for bringing in other carriers are not evident.
The upside for Apple is that Verizon could expand its total market reach, with a majority of Verizon customers indicating they would be interested in buying the device. The downside is that Apple would need to create a CDMA iPhone to work with Verizon’s current 3G network.
But some observers are contending that an iPhone for Verizon would be designed to work on its new 4G LTE network, which is expected to be launched in as many as 25 markets by mid-November.
The device could possibly be dual band, for both LTE and EVDO CDMA. This could have a major effect on AT&T’s iPhone customers if the LTE coverage is reliable, because of 4G’s faster speeds. AT&T is also moving to a 4G network, but is said to be as much as a year…