Clearly Verizon can’t keep secrets as well as new-found partner Apple. Numerous news outlets are reporting that the nation’s No. 1 carrier is going to officially announce a CDMA version of the iPhone. Verizon has scheduled a press event in New York City Tuesday, but hasn’t said what it will be about.
But the timing, if not the many rumors, seem to confirm it’ll be Verizon’s announcement that it will now carry the iPhone,ending rival AT&T’s exclusive U.S. distribution deal with Apple. Verizon’s CEO Ivan Seidenberg gave a keynote address last Thursday at the big CES show in Las Vegas, which would have a been a perfectly good time to announce a deal with Apple except that Apple wasn’t at the show and perhaps didn’t want the news to break there. Apple has eschewed trade shows in recent years, even the MacWorld Expo, and holds its own news events. Given the focus is expected to be exclusively on the iPhone, CEO Steve Jobs or other Apple officials, may well make an appearance at Verizon’s event.
Enterprise Mobile Today details what’s likely to be announced and why the timing is great for Apple.
