Apple iPhone Coming to Verizon – but no 4G LTE

The years of speculation and rumors are over, Verizon finally announced that the Apple iPhone will be “coming to America’s most reliable network” at the Verizon press conference this morning. The Apple iPhone will be available on February 10th, 2011 and existing subscribers are able to pre-order on February 3rd on a “first come, first serve” basis via VerizonWireless.com. The pre-orders will only be taken online for both consumer and business. New customers have to wait for the February 10th launch to purchase in select channels.

Pricing for Verizon’s iPhone 4 is similar to AT&Ts pricing starting at $199.99 for the 16GB model and $299.99 for the 32GB model. This pricing requires a 2 year commitment to Verizon. Existing Verizon users are able to redeem their New Every Two credit but there will be no early upgrade promotions like AT&T offered last year. Minimum service requires a nationwide plan with a data package, but pricing has not been released yet.

If you just purchased a phone on Verizon within the past 30 days, you can exchange the phone with a restocking fee to “upgrade” to an iPhone 4.

One question about the Verizon iPhone service wondered whether the iPhone would work internationally. Verizon customers will be able to use the iPhone for voice and text in over 40 countries and data service in over 20 countries.

The Verizon iPhone will include the 3G Mobile Hotspot app pre-installed and will also include Verizon’s other apps available including VZ Navigator and VCAST Media Manager.

You will not be able to use the AT&T version of the iPhone 4 on the Verizon network and AT&T remains the only carrier to provide simultaneous voice and data. One final note, the antenna has been modified in the Verizon iPhone 4 configuration so the left-handers will probably be the first to defect to Verizon.

This is definitely positive news opening the Apple iPhone 4 to additional carriers in the US for consumers. I can’t wait to see how AT&T handles this threat to what has become their cash cow. I expect AT&T to release the Hotspot ability with an app within a few months. Additionally, I’m curious to see how many AT&T iPhone users defect to Verizon. I’ve seen estimates of up 30%, but I also remember US folks mentioning moving to Canada if Obama was elected president…

What will be frustrating and a letdown for consumers wanting to go to Verizon with the iPhone 4 will be that the Verizon iPhone only supports CDMA and not LTE (3G only not 4G).

Finally, it’s time to see if AT&T has been dropping the calls or if the iPhone’s been the root of those frustrating moments.

The question for AT&T iPhone users, are you willing to give up simultaneous voice and data usage to switch to Verizon and gain the ability to turn the iPhone into a Hotspot without jailbreaking?

Verizon users: are you going to switch to the iPhone 4 from your current phone?