Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer has confirmed that whenever the next iPhone debuts, it’ll be a true world phone, capable of operating on both CDMA and GSM networks with the same hardware. One handset to rule them all.
Apple’s plans to launch a super-speedy LTE-enabled ‘4G’ iPhone later this year have reportedly been scuppered by a delay in manufacturing the chips, however, when the device does launch in 2012, it’s heading to China Mobile.
Dreams of getting our mucky mitts on a super speedy LTE-enabled iPhone in 2011 have just been quashed by a new report which claims Apple’s plans to release an ‘iPhone 4S’ later this year have gone down the pan.
AT&T will begin to roll out their nationwide 4G LTE network starting in New York City on June 30th. But will they penetrate enough markets for Apple to release a 4G-capable iPhone 5 in September?
While Apple is unlikely to release a 4G iPad until 2012 or even 2013, due to their issues with the power hungriness of current LTE modems chipsets, never underestimate Cupertino’s competitors — or their desperation to beat the iPad — to adopt an underdeveloped new technology before its time.
Meet, then, the HTC Puccini, a 10-inch LTE tablet set to debut in June. Not much is known about it, although it’s likely to be a Honeycomb tablet and support HTC’s Scribe capacitive stylus.
Otherwise, the most interesting aspect about the Puccini is that it is one of the first devices that will support AT&T’s forthcoming “true 4G” LTE network. That’s interesting not because of the Puccini, but because of what it means for Apple. When AT&T’s LTE network debuts, Apple will finally be able to support the two largest mobile providers in the country in their 4G pursuits using the same chipset.
Verizon has been rolling out its new LTE mobile broadband service across America over the past couple months in a move that is thought to herald the introduction of a future 4G iPhone to their network, presumably next year. Either way, right now, there are no Verizon 4G smartphones… instead, they are selling a series of LTE 4G modems, which are regrettably only for Windows PCs… no Macs accepted.
Luckily, it seems that the plucky hacking community has already managed to put themselves together an unofficial workaround to the situation, bringing 4G support to OS X for the first time… at least for the Pantech UML290.
We report with reservations, because this rumor — while titillating — is clearly absurd. That said, if you don’t hear it from us, you’ll hear it from someone more breathless: Mac Daily News is claiming that the Verizon iPhone is coming to a Verizon outlet near you as soon as December 26th.
Last month, Verizon’s CEO said that his network would have to “earn” the iPhone and strongly implied that their upcoming rollout of their 4G network would be what would do it.
Maybe so, but they are off to a shaky start when it comes to servicing the Apple faithful: Verizon has officially launched their 4G network by offering their first LTE modem to the public… but don’t expect it to work on your Mac.
Verizon’s Twitter account might have tipped the forthcoming arrival of the iPhone to America’s biggest CDMA network, but Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is still playing coy about the possibility of a Verizon iPhone.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Seidenberg says that a Verizon iPhone will only arrive “when Apple thinks it’s time.”
The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both agree that a CDMA iPhone is coming to Verizon in January, and their agreement on the matter has one of Apple’s strategic leaks written all over it. But when the iPhone comes to Verizon, will it be boasting 4G mobile internet speeds?
Don’t count on it, says Steve Cheney of Techcrunch, who reports that the Verizon iPhone to debut in January will be unable to access Verizon’s LTE network.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal threw some more sparks at the kindling of the rumored Verizon iPhone, claiming that it was conclusively on track for debut in the first quarter of 2011.
Personally, I wasn’t inclined to believe the rumor. It was only two weeks ago that Verizon’s own CEO said that the iPhone wouldn’t be coming to their network until they had their 4G network in place, claiming that the wireless carrier needed to “earn” the iPhone.
Today, though, I’m ready to change my tune due to two new revelations. The first is that Verizon has announced that they would be rolling out 4G to 38 cities this year, and start showing off 4G-capable smartphones at CES in January 2011. That makes a 4G Verizon iPhone next year possible, even within the Wall Street Journal’s optimistic first quarter timeframe.
AT&T’s beleaguered and spotty 3G network has been the butt of both joke and collective outrage since the iPhone 3G, but Ma Bell is now promising customers that they’re serious about improving things, having dedicated a minimum of $18 billion to improve both wireless and landline network capacity across the country next year.
Not only will this entail infrastructure support, but according to AT&T, they will also install thousands of new cell sites which will expand mobile broadband coverage to millions of customers whose iPhones might currently cling tenuously to the bottom bar of reception. Additionally, AT&T is making noises that they will be increasing the capacity of their data network, hopefully leading to better download speeds at all… or at least not letting them degrade any further.
The money’s also earmarked for moving AT&T along to the next generation of mobile broadband: the blistering LTE 4G standard. AT&T is promising these network enhancements will allow seamless migration to next-gen LTE… good news indeed, if you are just counting down the days to an iPhone LTE announcement.
