Here we go again, but this time it’s from the respected Wall Street Journal. Sources in the know said Apple is working on two iPhones for this summer and one will be coming to Verizon Wireless.
The fact that there will be a new iPhone this summer is not surprising, as Apple normally refreshes its smartphone every 12 months or so. We’re hearing and hoping that it will have an OLED screen, new styling and a new operating system that could support multitasking. This is expected to roll out in July or so, and it will likely sell a million units in its first weekend, just like the iPhone 3G and 3GS.
The interesting thing is that the report is saying Pegatron Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co is prepping a CDMA version for the largest U.S. carrier. The company, which made the previous iPhones, (UPDATE: Looks like I misread that one folks, my apologies) is reportedly readying the CDMA iPhone for this fall, the repor said. With over 91 million customers, Verizon has been a tempting target for Apple since the iPhone was introduced. The problem is that the exclusive deal with AT&T ensures a healthy purchase price per handset for Apple and the GSM technology is more widespread around the world, meaning the components cost less than CDMA equivalents.
There’s no word on what type of iPhone would come to Verizon and, once again, we’ve heard this rumor many times before and it hasn’t panned out. But if it did happen, this would be big-time news because I can’t tell you how many iPhone-toting friends I have who have pledged to switch to Verizon once Apple’s handset lands there. The iPhone has been the primary driver of AT&T’s new subscriber growth and losing that exclusivity would put a dent in this.
As for Verizon, this move would help retain millions (if not tens of millions) antsy smartphone users and it could get a bunch of frustrated AT&T iPhone users to switch. Ironically, an iPhone on Verizon could neutralize its biggest advantage: a horde of data-hungry iPhone users could degrade Verizon’s rock-solid network, which has already started to feel the strain from Droid users.
You’re damn right we’ll be watching this story and let us know if this changes your upgrade plans.
[Via The Wall Street Journal]