Fortune: Verizon iPhone a 'fait accompli'
In a profile of Verizon's CEO comes more evidence that Apple will introduce an iPhone on Verizon's network in early 2011.
That Verizon iPhone we keep hearing about? It's looking increasingly likely we'll see it in just a few short months.
Fortune today has joined other publications in offering their own kind of confirmation of an iPhone coming to Verizon's network, though it has never been confirmed on the record.
In this case, Fortune dropped this bit of information in the middle of a lengthy profile of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg. Without quoting him or anyone else at Verizon directly, "sources" tell Fortune that a Verizon iPhone is a "fait accompli."
The device will arrive in early 2011 and be based on Verizon's 3G CDMA network, which means it won't work outside the U.S. There's not much more detail about the device than that, but there are some interesting details about the decision-making process and the Verizon-Apple relationship.
Fortune quotes Verizon President Lowell McAdam about a phone call he made to Steve Jobs in December 2007. McAdam says he told Jobs that they should consider doing business together, considering the widespread problems of dropped calls on AT&T's network. Despite previous disagreements, McAdam said, "it's probably worth having another discussion to make sure we're not missing something." According to the report, Jobs told him, "Yeah, you're probably right. We have missed something."
And is that "something" a CDMA iPhone running on Verizon's network?
Previous reports have pegged January for the introduction, though Fortune just reports "early 2011" for when the device will arrive on Verizon. That could still mean Apple introduces it at an event in January.