Today Verizons chief operating officer Lowell McAdam finally uttered the words that so many people have been waiting years to hear, the iPhone will be officially coming to Verizon. Existing customers can pre-order the phone starting February 3rd, and it will become available to everyone else February 10th. This news is old but its still exciting to finally get the official word after 2 years of rumors and sources reporting that the iPhone was on the way. McAdam joked “If the press writes about something long enough and hard enough, eventually it comes true”. Apple was represented on stage by COO Tim Cook, who expressed Apple’s excitement over the announcement, saying Apple was “incredibly pleased to give Verizon’s customers the choice we’ve been waiting for”.

One thing that did surprise us, is Verizon letting customers tether up to 5 devices to the iPhone using their 3G Mobile Hotspot app which comes pre-installed on the phone. Verizon also said the phones will be priced at $199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB model, both with a 2-year contract. But at the same time, declined to announce the price of data plans, opting to only say that “pricing will be announced at a later date”. Speculation has been circulating that Verizon would offer the same data plan they provide to other smartphone customers. The question regarding whether the Verizon iPhone 4 would support simultaneous voice and data was answered by Dan Mead, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, when he said it was “the same as other CDMA devices”, meaning no. Speculation also says that Verizon willhave an unlimited data plan offered for the iPhone 4.

Another big question of whether the Verizon version of the phone would be shipped with the updated antenna assembly is still left unanswered. With the switch to a different network protocol, meaning that the internals of the phone would have to be changed, it would make sense that it would be the updated assembly. But if you look at the photo above: look at the black line on the upper-left-hand corner. It strikes us as odd that they wouldn’t try to make a selling point of a Death Grip-free iPhone if that’s what it is, or it could just be a design change due to it being a CDMA radio. Verizon claims to be well prepared for the expected onslaught of iPhones.

As far as a CDMA version of the iPad goes, McAdam remained silent on the subject. We were also curious about a timeline for a LTE version of the iPhone, especially with Verizon completing it nationwide 4G network this year, while AT&T will follow suit next year. So the question becomes, how many of you are planning on making the switch to Verizon this February?

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Authors: V_Geek

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