Here we go again. DigiTimes is reporting that Apple has already pegged a manufacturer to make up to 10 million iPhones using CDMA technology. Are you salivating yet, Verizon users?
Pegatron Technology has received orders for an iPhone based on CDMA from Apple with annual shipments expected to reach 10 million units. The orders should start contributing to the Taiwan-based company’s revenues in August or September, according to sources from component makers.
The iPhone-to-Verizon rumors have been around just about as long as Apple’s handset has existed but there seems to be momentum with this one. There’s also been a report that an advertising company has been hard at work crafting an ad campaign for a Verizon iPhone that will hit later this year (here’s a free pitch: “You can use our iPhone to actually make calls”). We know Big Red wants the device and surveys suggest there is a huge demand for this handset on Verizon’s network. It seems like an easy match, right?
It’s time to put on my “Negative Nancy” hat and pour some cold water on this one. First of all, DigiTimes has broken a lot of hot scoops because of its proximity to manufacturers but it is also routinely used to spread rumors. Additionally, there is nothing that says this CDMA version is going to come to Verizon. The Chinese market uses a specific version of this technology (TD-CDMA) and that could be what the order is for. During its last amazing quarterly earnings, Apple said it was seeing explosive growth in the Asian markets so it makes a ton of sense to court the would-be-smartphone users in China with a new version of its touchscreen handset.
Throw in all the AT&T exclusivity news we’ve heard and I’ll stick with my prediction that we won’t see an iPhone on Big Red until at least 2011. As much as it pains me to say it, I’ve been wrong before. I never thought Google would jump into the hardware game with its own Android device but they sure did. Maybe the search giant should have listened to me …
[Via DigiTimes]