Image via CrunchBaseVerizon to begin offering iPhone 4 in February | Phones | iOS Central | MacworldiPhone users in the U.S. will soon have a choice of carrier for Apple’s smartphone. Verizon announced Tuesday that it will begin providing wireless service for the iPhone 4 in early February.
What Verizon's network can -- and can't -- give iPhone users
Analyst: Verizon iPhone on track for March 2011 debut
“Two industry innovators are coming together,” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told reporters at a New York press event announcing the Verizon-Apple deal.
Since its 2007 debut, the iPhone has used AT&T as its sole service provider in the U.S. AT&T will continue to provide wireless service for the iPhone, though the carrier’s exclusive relationship with Apple comes to an end with Tuesday’s announcement.
The iPhone 4 available through Verizon will be a CDMA model, which allows it to work on that carrier’s network. (It's the same standard used by Sprint.) iPhones available through AT&T use the GSM standard (as does T-Mobile). Existing iPhone customers who want to switch from AT&T to Verizon will need to buy a new phone in addition to changing their wireless carrier.
A CDMA iPhone will mean some compromises for users—most notably, the inability of CDMA-based technologies to simultaneously support voice and data connections. That’s the same limitation that faced users of the original iPhone connecting to AT&T’s EDGE network. CDMA is also used primarily in North America and a few other countries, meaning the Verizon iPhone may not be an attractive option for globe-trotting smartphone users.
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