Apple will begin producing a new iPhone for Verizon Wireless’ CDMA network by the end of 2010, according to a report yesterday from The Wall Street Journal that cited people briefed by Apple.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on “rumors and speculation.”
According to the report, the new phone would be similar to the current iPhone 4 and would ship sometime in the first quarter of 2011. If true, an iPhone for Verizon Wireless would officially end AT&T’s exclusivity agreement to carry the iPhone, which began in 2007.
Verizon President and COO Lowell McAdam declined to comment on the matter at a news conference yesterday at CTIA. McAdam was on hand to discuss Verizon Wireless’ LTE network and did say that a device like the iPhone could benefit from the kind of data rates that its next-generation network will offer.
Apple has seen increasing competition from Google’s Android platform in recent months. A bevy of high-end Android-based smarpthones from the likes of Motorola, HTC, Samsung and others have lifted the Android platform to the most preferred device platform by Americans who bought smartphones in August, according to recent numbers released by Nielsen.
AT&T reported activating a record 3.2 million iPhones in the second quarter, and analysts say the company is on track to exceed that number in its upcoming third-quarter earnings.
