WSJ Says Apple is Working on a Verizon iPhone [We’ve Heard That Before]

The WSJ has a scoop today citing a person “briefed by Apple” who says the company will start manufacturing a new CDMA iPhone by the end of the year that would allow Verizon to sell the device beginning of 2011.

Of course, we’ve heard that before. Many times. Many, many, many times! So what makes this rumor different this time? Certainly not the source of the rumor, who let me remind you, is a person “briefed by Apple”…

Apple Inc. plans to begin mass producing a new iPhone by the end of 2010 that would allow Verizon Wireless to sell the smartphone early next year, said people briefed by Apple.

The new iPhone would be similar in design to the iPhone 4 currently sold by AT&T Inc. but would be based on an alternative wireless technology called CDMA used by Verizon, these people said. The phone, for which Qualcomm Inc. is providing a key chip, is expected to be released in the first quarter of next year, according to the same people.

I said it and I will say it again out loud: a Verizon iPhone will not happen next year! This is just a rumor started by Verizon so their customers don’t leave the boat during the holidays season and go to AT&T to buy the iPhone.

I might be wrong. But really, how often am I wrong? 😉