Customers are crazy about their iPhones. But Apple’s AT and T service earns their disdain. Verizon iPhone rumors have swirled for years due to this love/hate relationship. The latest rumor has “unnamed sources” saying that the Verizon iPhone will be accessible to buyers in January 2011. The large clue people mention when spreading the iPhone Verizon rumor is an additional rumor – a big Apple Qualcomm order for chipsets that work on Verizon’s network. Ever since Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 with AT and T as its exclusive wireless carrier, industry insiders have said the Verizon iPhone is not a question of “if,” but when.
Blog gossip spawns Verizon iPhone rumors
Rumors about the Verizon iPhone have become so commonplace that no one really believes them anymore. However, writing in Tech Crunch, Steve Cheney said the latest Verizon iPhone rumor is different. Cheney said he was confident that the rumors will finally become fact because of the DNA of Smartphone components that are traced through the supply chain. In plain English, this means there is evidence that Apple ordered a batch of CDMA chipsets from Qualcomm that could be used to manufacture a run of Verizon iPhones in December for January sale. Never mind the scoop about the Apple/Qualcomm order comes from “sources with knowledge of the entire situation”.
Big sales forecasted for Apple Qualcomm iPhone
The CDMA wireless standard that power’s Verizon’s network doesn’t mesh with the GSM network current used by Apple and AT and T. Business Week fell in with Tech Crunch in stating that Apple’s suppliers are gearing up for making components for a CDMA network, despite the fact that Apple’s Qualcomm order hasn’t been confirmed as fact. More than 50 million iPhones have been sold since Apple introduced it in 2007. Business Week quoted UBS AG analyst John Hodulik as saying that ending AT and T’s exclusive iPhone contract will grant Verizon a leg up on its competitors on the Smartphone playing field. Verizon customers, who numbered 92.8 million at the end of the first quarter, may buy 3 million iPhones a quarter, he estimates.
As a rule, bloggers cry wolf
This round of Verizon iPhone rumors could be another false start for iPhone users who think AT and T is the only blemish on their ultimate device. PC World offered a history of Verizon iPhone rumors that started in Sept. 2008 when bloggers citing a tipster who had Verizon insider credentials said the rumor would come true in early 2009. That first announcement lead to other alleged Verizon iPhone release dates popping up in April 2009 (Early 2010), Oct. 2009 (70 percent chance in 2010), Oct. 2009 (late 2010), Jan 2010, (Jan. 2010!), March 2010, (late 2010) and May 2010 (early 2011).
techcrunch.com
businessweek.com
pcworld.com
