Will (or when) Verizon get the iPhone? Stories speculating on the answers to those questions have taken on a near myth-like quality; although disproven, the conversations continue. The chatter has been given new life by some analyst comments released Tuesday.
Analyst Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital told investors he believes we could see Verizon selling an iPhone 4 in the first quarter of 2011. Reitzes points to “checks” seeming to show a CDMA iPhone could be produced late 2010.
“While widely expected, we believe the additional carrier would extend and accelerate the iPhone 4 cycle” through the first six months of 2011. The carrier could sell 9 million iPhones in 2011, the analyst projects.
In a similar take, analyst Scott Craig of Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, told investors Apple’s move toward non-exclusive carrier agreements was “very positive.” In countries with non-exclusive sales pacts, iPhone shipments rose, he said. If Verizon does join the iPhone bandwagon, Craig expects Apple would sell 51.5 million handsets in fiscal 2011 – 8 million units higher than the analyst previously expected.
Last week, a report indicated a China-based electronics manufacturer had gotten an Apple contract to produce a CDMA version of the iPhone. The company, Pegatron, will “start shipping a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 to Apple in the fourth quarter and is currently using its plants in Shanghai, China to produce the products,” according to the Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes.
However, in a sign of how fluid the rumors surrounding a second U.S. iPhone carrier can be, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu has also said he believes T-Mobile – not Verizon – will get the first crack at the iPhone. According to the analyst, T-Mobile is more technically attuned to the iPhone, making the move more seamless.
[via Barron’s]
