I know it’s unlikely, but perhaps you’ve heard a thing or two about an upcoming little announcement regarding the iPhone, and some mobile carrier called Verizon. Sarcasm aside, let’s look at the latest details that we’ve gathered about the iPhone’s inevitable jump from AT&T exclusivity to CDMA land.
Join us as we take a look at some of the most interesting facts about this mobile landscape changing event. Face it, the Verizon iPhone is real, and it’s right around the corner…
December 2009
It Begins. Verizon Makes Upgrades to its infrastructure to handle extra traffic. Now we understand that the Droid’s popularity warranted some upgrades, but the massive popularity of the iPhone is a surefire reason to ensure that the backbone of your network is in tip-top shape. Don’t believe us? Just ask AT&T.
June 2010
Verizon spokesperson John Johnson flat out denies the iPhone is Verizon bound, but strategically leaves the window open for future alliance. Of course the Verizon iPhone was likely in the works as he was saying this, but it wasn’t quite ready enough to release any details.
August 8th 2010
Apple orders a large batch of CDMA chipsets from Qualcomm. So, likely at this point, a prototype has been completed, testing is being performed, and now things are beginning to get rolling. Gotta love the rumor mill…
August 11, 2010
Tech blogger John Gruber reports that the Verizon iPhone has entered a new phase of testing, dubbed N92. We’re not sure about that, but it looks like he wasn’t too far off from his CES prediction.
August 26th, 2010
AT&T expresses its confidence about post-iPhone exclusivity, lending more credence that the company has been notified that Apple plans to cozy up with a different carrier. If this isn’t the writing on the wall, I don’t know what is…
September 22nd, 2010
Apple plans to build 3 million CDMA headsets in December. But, uh, AT&T doesn’t use CDMA, George.
September 22nd, 2010
AT&T expresses its “confidence” yet again, about business after their iPhone exclusivity runs out. Now, it’s obvious they’re just scared, and this is looking real pathetic. Mass exodus, get!
September 24th, 2010
Verizon CEO hints against the prospect of a 2011 iPhone. Smoke and mirrors people, smoke and mirrors…
October 6th, 2010
Yay! Now it’s The Wall Street Journal’s turn. They cite a person “briefed by Apple” who says the company will start manufacturing a new CDMA iPhone by the end of the year. Okay, we can do this too… “The Verizon iPhone is coming in 2011, my friend told me,” see, that was eaaaasy peeezy.
October 19th, 2010
Who doesn’t love a few strategically angled spy shots? A blog by the name of Richy Rich (love that name btw) posted a few images of what they claim to be a CDMA iPhone 4 running a test operating system. Interestingly enough, the blog also claims that the iPhone 4 will retain its SIM card slot as well.
October 19th, 2010
A new CDMA iPhone has reached final testing stages. According to BGR, this specific iPhone is called the iPhone “3,2″ model, the iPhone 4 was the “3,1″ model. So it makes sense that this “3,2″ model is the next major iteration of the iPhone. Right on.
December 10th, 2010
Apple posts job openings for CDMA engineers. Something tells us that this could be related to the Verizon iPhone, but hey, that’s just a wild guess.
December 11th, 2010
In this latest episode of “as the rumor mill churns,” a source contacts us and confirms the Verizon iPhone is indeed real, and is right on the horizon. The facts seem to check out on this one.
December 29th, 2010
Eighteen days later, a new report surfaces indicating that Apple will most likely be doing some sort of revamp to the iPhone before March of 2011. Since Apple normally releases iPhone updates in the summer, this goes right along with the Verizon rumors.
December 30th, 2010
Business Week claims it has a source that reports that Apple will be holding a special event on Valentine’s Day to announce the new partnership with Verizon. Not out of the realm of possibilities at this point, but highly unlikely… Unless Verizon’s event is just an announcement of an announcement. But, again in this industry, not out of the realm of possibilities.
January 5th, 2011
Five whole days into the new year before a major Verizon rumor? The rumor mill is slacking off as of late! Anyway, this one is a biggie, and appears to indeed be photos of the Verizon iPhone’s exoskeleton. If that wasn’t enough, Apple had YouTube remove a video that compared the current iPhone 4 and the new iPhone’s unmentionables.
January 7th, 2011
Along with the recent announcement that Apple has put a freeze on retail employee vacations, (yay forced labor!) this latest news is all but a confirmation of what we’ve been waiting for since the iPhone was announced. A January 11th announcement would work perfectly with the rumored launch of the Verizon iPhone on February 3rd.
January 11th, 2011
After many years, and many rumors, Verizon shocks us all, and announces the Motorola Droid Z… Haha, wouldn’t that be funny? But seriously, the Verizon iPhone will be announced. People will be happy, lines will form around corners, Apple stock will rise, AT&T will cry, and we’ll have more news to cover than ever before.
Stay tuned folks, excited much?