Verizon Will Sell the iPhone Next Year, Really Really
Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published a story that strongly implied Verizon would start offering the Apple iPhone 4 next year. Not content with even the slightest ambiguity, the paper has updated the article to state in no uncertain terms that Verizon will be selling the iPhone in early 2011.
The rest of the details remain the same: Anonymous sources say Apple is preparing to mass produce a version of the iPhone that will run on the Verizon network. Differences in network technology make it impossible to use the current AT&T iPhone on Verizon's networks.
But the real emphasis here is that the vaunted AT&T/Apple exclusivity deal will soon be ending. The popularity of the iPhone has buoyed AT&T sales despite widespread dissatisfaction with the performance of the AT&T network. There was nowhere else to get an iPhone, so people stuck with the network.
But if, as the Wall Street Journal would have you believe, the iPhone comes to a different network , many dissatisfied customers may jump ship, which should worry AT&T.
