Recently there have been numerous rumors about the new iPhone that’s supposed to be announced in 2011. The reason why TechGeec hasn’t reported any of these rumors are because they’re still just rumors and we’ve been hearing rumors about a Verizon iPhone for the past three years since the original iPhone came out. But now it seems as if our hopes for this new iPhone might be coming true.
To start off, Verizon Wireless (United States) uses CMDA technology to store information for their phones unlike AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s SIM cards. CDMA technology requires absolutely no cards of any sort. All the information is stored by the cellular company (in this case Verizon Wireless).
John Gruber, a reliable source for Apple “rumors”, announced recently that the CDMA iPhone (again, it doesn’t have to be for Verizon, it can also be released for Sprint who also uses CDMA) is codenamed N92. The current iPhone 4 was codenamed N89 before it was released. Gruber also reported that this CDMA iPhone is in the EVT (Engineering Verification Testing) phase. This phase limits Apple to testing one device inside their labs (or wherever Apple tests the phones before they go out into the wild). The next testing phase would be DVT (Design Verification Test) where Apple employees are allowed to take the phones out into the world to test them (this is the phase in which the iPhone 4 was in when it was “lost”).
Enhancing the rumor of the CDMA iPhone, TechCrunch’s Steve Cheney reported that Apple is ordering millions of CDMA chips from Qualcomm. Assuming Gruber was correct in his claim that Apple is in the EVT phase, then this would be the ideal time for Apple to purchase this many CDMA chips if the phone will be released/announced in January 2011.
Also this week, AT&T revealed in a filing to the SEC (U.S. Security and Exchange Commission) that it is warning it’s investors about possible negative effects when “exclusivity arrangements end” for popular smartphones and the only exclusive and popular smartphone for AT&T is the iPhone. This report does seem to help these rumors develop even more because huge companies would not risk upsetting their investors for no good reason unless they feel absolutely necessary.
The last strong addition to the 2011 CDMA iPhone is that Verizon Wireless’s CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, was selected to give the high-profile keynote address at the 2011 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas this coming January. The head of next years CES reportedly said that he’s “looking forward to hear about Verizon’s next generation of products”.
Now again, none of these facts point directly at a CDMA iPhone in 2011. I, myself, have doubts about this because Apple’s and AT&T’s exclusivity contract ends in 2012, not 2011. For a Verizon (or Sprint) iPhone to be released prior to the contract expiring would mean that either both companies would have to agree on breaking the contract (I don’t see why AT&T would do this) or that Apple would have to buy AT&T out of the contract. And what I find interesting is that no one has said anything about their exculisivity contract and how it ends in 2012. On the other hand, these rumors are pretty convincing and so I’m holding out on replacing my LG Voyager (Verizon) this year until a CDMA iPhone is released (or not released) this coming January.
Be sure to leave a comment on this post telling what you think about these rumors and the January 2011 “CDMA iPhone”.