Finally, after years of rumor and speculation, it’s finally happened. There’s a CDMA iPhone, on Verizon. Aren’t you excited! For all those people who hate AT&T, have crappy coverage, or are on a family plan with Verizon, now you can experience the joy of the iPhone. It will be available early in February. You can pre-order online from February 3rd if you’re already a Verizon customer and eligible for upgrade, and it will be generally available February 10 at the same price at the AT&T version $199/$299. There’s an official site up now, too.
The big new feature is the ability to handle mobile hotspots! The Verizon iPhone can become a mobile hotspot for up to five devices.
Verizon’s Lowell Macadam started with the quip, “If the press write something long enough, eventually it comes true,” aptly summing up the long term discussion about the iPhone on Verizon. He continued, “today, two innovators are coming together.”
Macadam says that Verizon and Apple spent a year testing a CDMA iPhone, and they started talking in 2008.
Apple second in command Tim Cook took the stage to talk about the partnership with Verizon, saying how incredibly pleased they were to offer the iPhone with the Big Red, and that it’s the iPhone 4 with all the features we expect: Retina Display, FaceTime, the whole nine yards.
Verizon is not expecting there to be any problems with getting iPhones in the hands of any who want one, and is confident that their network can handle the traffic.
Verizon would not comment on when an upgraded model would be available, or if it will happen the same time as the expected refresh of the AT&T iPhone.
Asked why they didn’t jump straight on LTE for the iPhone, Tim Cook commented that the LTE chip would force design changes they couldn’t make, and that they wanted to have it out for Verizon ASAP.
The CDMA iPhone is apparently a multi-year, non-exclusive deal with Verizon. On Sprint soon, maybe?
It sounds like the antennae have been changed to work on CDMA, but they’re not commenting if it’ll affect the attenuation problem.
There will not be simultaneous calling and data.
[thanks to Engadget and MobileCrunch]
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The lack of calling and data at the same time sucks. Good thing I have AT&T.
So…. If it’s acting as a wifi hotspot, you can’t make or receive phone calls or text messages. That’s going to cause a uproar.