The iPhone is finally coming to the Verizon network. Announced today by Lowell McAdam fromVerizon and Tim Cook from Apple. It will be available for pre-order for existing customers on February 3rd with general availability on February 10th.
As I expected, this initial Verizon iPhone is basically the same as the current iPhone 4, but works on Verizon's CDMA network instead of a GSM network like AT&T. So why just release the same old iPhone 4 on Verizon without some cool new features, like LTE support? There are a few reasons. First and foremost, as Tim Cook pointed out, they wanted to get this out on Verizon as quickly as possible and sticking with the existing design allowed that to happen. Also, when the new iPhone 5 comes out (presumably this summer) the new features will be available for all carriers and Verizon will have something to offer at a lower price point, assuming the iPhone 4 will drop to $99 when the iPhone 5comes out.
There was one surprise in the announcement and that was Verizon's inclusion of their Mobile Hot Spot feature. Many Verizon smart phones offer this feature which allows the phone's 3G data connection to be shared with up to 5 other wi-fi connected devices. Pricing for this option was not announced but is typically an additional $20/month for 2GB of data.
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