AT&T continues to shy away from blowing the iPhone horn, Apple is working on new iPhone chipsets, and Verizon has stopped its cocky “we don’t need the iPhone” mentality. You know what that means…
The latest flame to the Verizon iPhone rumor fire comes in the form of an AT&T statement in its quarterly SEC filing. PC World quoted the filing as saying, “As these exclusivity arrangements end, we expect to continue to offer such handsets…[and] do not expect any such terminations to have a material negative impact on our Wireless [sic] segment income.” AT&T noted that it will not have “dependence on any single handset.”
If you look at the company’s recent activity, that rings true. AT&T, one of the very last major players in the mobile market to finally accept Android, is now the exclusively carrier of Samsung’s Galaxy S platform, a line of phones that promises to push the boundaries of Android.
Additionally, Tech Crunch is reporting that Apple has begun to fire up production of a CDMA version of the iPhone. CDMA is the wireless network infrastructure used predominantly by Verizon and Sprint. T-Mobile and AT&T use a competing standard called GSM and as such all of the iPhones that have been produced so far run on GSM technology.
But Apple has reportedly ordered millions of CDMA chipsets, and if true there can be no other conclusion – the iPhone is coming to Verizon
Speculation over exactly when the iPhone and Verizon will collide has remained fairly stable with projections it will come in January. That could mean a big announcement at the annual CES trade show, the biggest consumer electronics event in the world.
As more and more details emerge, the Verizon iPhone falls further away from rumor and more to inevitable reality. But of course everyone is still remaining officially mum. Given both companies’ history of being able to keep secrets, there’s likely going to be a surprise or two that will pop up when we least expect it. The tricky question is whether or not Apple will somehow alter the iPhone’s antenna for the Verizon debut.
