Looks like the Number 1 complaint of Apple’s iPhone in the U.S is all set to vanish into thin air come January – AT&T exclusivity. Bloomberg is reporting that sources familiar with the plans have all but confirmed the phone’s arrival on Verizon, although Verizon has declined to officially comment on the story. Verizon had earlier stated that in 2011 LTE will be used for data and CDMA will be used for voice in the near term, so it’s likely the new iPhone be a 3G device using Verizon’s CDMA network for the first half of 2011 to be followed later in the year by an iPhone ‘4G’ that is an upgrade from the iPhone 4, running on Verizon’s GSM based LTE network.
The story however throws up even more questions than it answers. AT&T has heavily subsidized the iPhone in return for exclusivity and now that the iPhone will no longer be exclusive, what will happen to the subsidy? Will it increase the price of the iPhone? We can only guess at the moment. With Verizon jumping on the iPhone bandwagon, will T-Mobile and Sprint be far behind? We don’t think so. If last weekend’s AT&T exclusive iPhone 4 launch is any indication we should see nothing short of an ‘explosion’ of iPhones in 2011 when exclusivity ends.
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