The iPhone is now on Verizon, available on February 10, and it is time to stop talking about already. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Verizon carries the iPhone now, and this time it isn’t a rumor or a hoax. This time it’s for real, as a recent Verizon press conference confirmed it was happening and almost ready for launch. The Verizon iPhone release date is set for Feb. 10, and orders can be placed starting Feb.3.

iPhone from Verizon ordeal finally over

The tech obsessed have been going on about the iPhone going to Verizon ad nauseum for months on end. Speculation may finally draw to a close, as this time, it is for real. A Verizon press conference was scheduled for Jan. 11, and the Verizon iPhone was said to be the subject. The topic was indeed the much anticipated iPhone on a new carrier. The conference began, according to the New York Times, with Verizon President and CEO Lowell MacAdam taking the stage, and saying that “if the press writes something long and hard enough, it eventually becomes true.” Then he announced that the iPhone had come to Verizon, along with a few more phones in the Verizon LTE line of 4G smartphones that were recently announced at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Features and release date

Most of the iPhone features are going to be exactly the same on the Verizon network. The Verizon iPhone will not be an LTE phone. The 16-GB iPhone will cost $199.99, and the 32-GB iPhone will cost $299.99. The Verizon iPhone release date will be Feb. 10, and early orders can be placed beginning Feb. 3. A data plan is mandatory with the phone, but pricing isn’t available yet. There is an extensive Verizon iPhone FAQ page on Verizon’s website that goes into greater detail. The Verizon iPhone will use Verizon’s CDMA programming, instead of GSM.

The saga finally ends

Verizon iPhones can be pre-ordered or purchased at Verizon and Apple stores in about a month. The Verizon iPhone has been obsessed over for months on end, but it won’t be too much longer until the next cell phone craze takes hold.

Source

New York Times

Currently the only way to get an iPhone off the AT&T network is to "jailbreak" it. Image from Flickr.

Ever since its original release, non-AT&T cell phone users have been hoping for a Verizon iPhone release date. Though rumors have been running rampant for at least two years, an article in the Wall Street Journal sent stock markets and customers’ hearts thumping with a supposedly confirmed Verizon iPhone release date. According to the Wall Street Journal article, a Verizon iPhone release date could be as early as September or October. However, many are saying that this Verizon iPhone release date rumor is simply not true. Should you run out and get payday loans to cover the cost of your new gadget, or are all these rumors just that — unsubstantiated?

Verizon iPhone release date depends on  network

The Wall Street Journal report quotes several unnamed sources that are “close to Verizon” in saying that the Verizon iPhone release date will be in fall of this year. Apple is also suspected to be working on a thinner, faster iPhone. Both of these rumors are predicated on the idea that Apple is working on a CDMA wireless network chip for the iPhone.

Qualcomm has said it is designing a CDMA chip for Apple products that would work on the Verizon network, but the company tells CNN it would be “hard pressed” to launch that chip in 2010. No amount of easy cash loans can speed up the manufacturing process for a chip that has been in development for years. Even if Qualcomm has a functioning CDMA or multi-network chip, Apple would need to remanufacture the iPhone to handle the new chip manufacturer.

Verizon iPhone release date may be 2011

There are technology issues with the possibility of a Verizon iPhone release date, yes. On top of this, though, there is also the fact that even the Wall Street Journal article quotes that Apple “appears to be” working on a Verizon-compatible iPhone. It is no secret that Apple has been working on a CDMA chip for the iPhone, and is in fact working with Qualcomm on WCDMA multi-channel chip that would allow the phone to work across most cellular networks.

Just because Apple “appears to be working on” something and admitted to be working on does not make the Verizon iPhone relase date immenient. The best guess of most industry analysts and stock analysts is that the Verizon iPhone release date will most likely be sometime in 2011, depending on the type of chip they choose to use.

Sources:

PC World
CNN Money
Wall Street Journal