Apple will launch a Verizon-capable iPhone soon after this January's Consumer Electronics Show, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report.
Apple will host an event for the Verizon iPhone "very soon,"
according to a new report by
Bloomberg
Businessweek, adding to the steady drum-roll that the smartphone's break
from exclusive U.S.
carrier AT&T is imminent.
"Apple's introduction of an iPhone for use on Verizon's network will
come sometime after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas in early January,"
read
the Dec. 29 report, citing "a person familiar with Apple's plans who
is not authorized to discuss them publicly." The piece also suggests that
Apple will unveil the device with an appropriately "splashy" product
introduction.
The Bloomberg report adds to the chorus of media and analysts predicting a
Verizon iPhone sometime in early 2011. An October report in
The Wall Street
Journal, quoting people "briefed by Apple," suggested that the
company had slated a late-2010 production start for iPhones capable of running
on Verizon's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network. Before that, sources
told the blog TechCrunch in August that Apple had ordered millions of Qualcomm
CDMA chipsets for the upcoming smartphone.
Both
Fortune and
The New York Times have also cited unnamed
sources in support of the Verizon-iPhone-by-early-2011 story line. Meanwhile, prominent
analysts such as Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster have begun incorporating the
device on its new carrier into their predictive models for next year. Over the
summer, Barclays Capital analyst James Ratcliffe suggested that a Verizon
iPhone would compel between 500,000 and 1 million AT&T customers to switch
networks.
Apple's current smartphone model, the iPhone 4, sold 1.7 million units
within the first few days of its launch in June, and maintained a heightened
sales profile despite some controversy over its exterior antenna rim's ability
to hold a signal when held by bare skin. Thanks to mobile devices such as the
iPhone and iPad, the company's fourth quarter was marked by strong revenues of
$20.34 billion and a net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion.
In addition to the possibility of a Verizon iPhone, media and analysts have
focused on rumors of Apple preparing
a
second-generation iPad for unveiling in early 2011. Those rumors have
focused on the device's supposed addition of front- and rear-facing cameras for
videoconferencing, a higher-resolution screen, and possibly a slimmer and
lighter form factor.
Both the iPhone and iPad find themselves locked in competition with a
growing number of Android-based devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab
tablet and the Motorola Droid X smartphone. Added carriers and newer hardware,
of course, will allow Apple to maintain its sales momentum in the face of these
challenges.
Email
Print
