Rumor time! Today MacDailyNews is saying that the iPhone 4 is going to appear on Verizon’s network, and running on their new 4G LTE network.
Sources at MacDailyNews are saying:
- Verizon held management training for iPhone sales last week
- Verizon had functioning iPhones (LTE-capable) in management hands for the training sessions
- The formal announcement of the iPhones Verizon debut is coming right after Christmas; “Apparently AT&T’s final demand so as to maximize AT&T’s Christmas iPhone sales”
- The Verizon iPhone will be immediately available upon formal announcement
- Device has been “100% cooked for quite a while” and already shipping in bulk to Verizon warehouses
- The Verizon iPhone is not being shipped to any 3rd-party retailers in an effort to control leaks
- Verizon agreed to take 100% responsibility for security, so all the devices will be in their hands until the official announcement date, and they will then distribute thru channels in massive manner (hence early stockpiling)
- The new iPhone is an LTE device and that fact - the only “LTE iPhone,” exclusive to Verizon - will be the main marketing theme; i.e. “For the new ‘4G’ (cough) Verizon network” that Verizon has already started promoting
- As roll out of LTE not actually widespread, Verizon iPhone will have multi-band chip backward compatibility with regular CDMA
- iPhone 5 was planned to debut in summer as LTE-only, for all contracted carriers, but the clock is ticking and nobody thinks either Verizon or AT&T can get to critical mass to offer an LTE-only version
- Steve Jobs is said to be upset that carriers cannot seem to get their LTE act together more quickly
- Apple is “helping” U.S. carriers (money?) to build out LTE more quickly
According to previous rumors regarding a Verizon iPhone, this device hit its testing stage in October and Apple was rumored to have built 3 million units already this month.
Back in November, The Wall Street Journal also reported that the CEO of Verizon showed much interest in getting an iPhone on their network, saying “Our interests are beginning to come together more but they have to take steps to align their technology with ours.”
Things are beginning to line up for this much awaited announcement. What do you guys think? It seems legit but Christmas is awfully close. We’ll keep you updated.
[via TUAW via MacDailyNews]
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UPDATE: Nilay Patel over at Engadget just tweeted something interesting, and makes sense too:
