Apple Making Verizon-Ready iPhone by Year End

JEK

Senior Insider
Apple Making Verizon-Ready iPhone by Year End
By YUKARI IWATANI KANE And TING-I TSAI

Apple Inc. plans to begin mass producing a new iPhone by the end of 2010 that would allow Verizon Wireless to sell the smartphone early next year, said people briefed by Apple.

The new iPhone would be similar in design to the iPhone 4 currently sold by AT&T Inc. but would be based on an alternative wireless technology called CDMA used by Verizon, these people said. The phone, for which Qualcomm Inc. is providing a key chip, is expected to be released in the first quarter of next year, according to the same people.

An Apple CDMA iPhone would spell the end of the exclusive U.S. arrangement with Apple that AT&T has had since 2007, when the original iPhone debuted.


Separately, Apple is also developing a new iPhone model, said people briefed on the matter. One person familiar with the new iPhone plan said the fifth-generation iPhone will be a different form factor from those that are currently available. It was unclear how soon that version will be available to Verizon.

Spokeswomen for Apple and Qualcomm declined to comment; a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, declined to comment.
 
Just one word: antenna ;-)

A friend just got a new iPhone 4.. and had to get a case due dropped calls. Now when you can be sailing in the archipelago with a 5 Mbit/s mobile broadband, I don't remember the last time someone mentioned a dropped call..
 
I have waited so long for this that now I'm not sure I am interested. The Droid phones are really awesome. I just wonder how many others feel Apple waited just a bit too long. This will be a tough decision for me.
On another note, for you iphone junkies can you listen to itune radio stations in your car just as you would listen using your ipod as I do now? I realize you would have to probably stay plugged in as this would be a big drain on the battery. Just wondering.....
 
MotherOcean said:
On another note, for you iphone junkies can you listen to itune radio stations in your car just as you would listen using your ipod as I do now?

Lot of friends have turned into Spotify users with their iPhone / Android / Symbian phones. Your favourites, playlists and other features integrate well with Spotify running on your computer at home or work, or your Sonos audio system, and it also supported syncing for off-line use. It's like putting all your music into the cloud and share playlists and other suggestions with your friends.

It's free with occasional ads, 5 euros/month for unlimited streaming of music and 10 euros for premium account that adds mobile, offline mode, exclusive content and higher bit rate music. 10,5 million tracks and now 10 million users in the seven countries it's available now (Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and UK).

What I don't like about Spotify is that it gets a bit "spotty" with the niche genres and it doesn't integrate that greatly with e.g. iTunes so that you could use it to support your own music library.

Spotify is supposed to launch in the US by end of this year. All the major labels, UMG, Sony BMG, EMI, Warner are shareholders.
 
Top