On 1/11/11 @ 11am (this had Steve Jobs written on it from the beginning), Verizon’s CEO and President announced that they had finally partnered with Apple and are bringing the iPhone to Verizon customers. Since the iPhone was released in 2007, people have wanted this amazing product to be on the Verizon network which is, lets be honest, better in every way than AT&T. Here are my initial thoughts:
- Hallelujah.
- Should I run to the Verzion store now and set up a tent?
- Do I still have enough money from Christmas left over to buy one?
- Woot.
Quick tech talk – reports on information on the phone are a little thin right now but here is what we know:
- Release date – 2/10/11 (current Verizon customers can pre-order on the 3rd)
- Same price as before $199 16GB, $299 32GB with 2 year contract
- It is not a 4G phone
- A BIG difference is CDMA = No calling and surfing the web (honestly though, talk to the person, stop checking Facebook)
- The antenna is slightly altered but it was probably to fit the CDMA guts and not to correct antennagate.
- And probably the coolest thing – it will act as a mobile hotspot for up to 5 devices.
Now what strikes me as odd is that people are ALREADY complaining about the announcement today. Because it is coming out in February it will not be a 4G phone. People are outraged that Verizon rushed this to market, because it’s not like we’ve been begging for this for years, and are calling the whole thing stupid and to just wait until the next iPhone. Ahh greed, you’re always present aren’t you?
As for me? If I will get an iPhone I would get one now. I don’t need a 4G phone since I don’t use the web that much on my phone, and when I do I don’t need to download a vast majority of content. When the next upgrade is announced in June, sure there will be some upgrades – but guess what? June 2012’s upgrades are going to be even better than that! Will you wait for then? Of course not. This starts a huge debate of when it’s time to settle down with the current lineup and wait out two years of better devices then the ones you own. But for me it boils down to this – I want an iPhone for Verizon + Verizon has the iPhone = me happy no matter what 🙂
For any additional information check out the Verizon store’s FAQ on the iPhone.