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Apple looking to hire CDMA-knowledgeable staff

by Kelly Hodgkins Dec 10th 2010 at 12:45PM

A recent job posting on Apple's corporate job board loosely suggests Apple may be testing a CDMA iPhone. The posting for a Cellular Systems Performance Engineer went live December 9th and requires an individual knowledgeable in cellular technology, including standard GSM protocols (GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA) and CDMA.
The successful candidate will be tasked with handling protocol issues that arise from certification, interoperability, and field testing, the job post says, and they should also have experience with different carrier networks and infrastructures.

Normally, such a job listing would be overlooked as the requirement for experience with CDMA may be included by default. If you are a Cellular Systems Performance engineer, you most likely have experience with all the cellular technologies, not just one and this job listing reflects that diversity of skills.

Given all the rumors surrounding the CDMA iPhone, though, this is not exactly a normal time. In this particular case, the inclusion of CDMA and the job duties that focus on analyzing final stage test results may point to the CDMA iPhone.

Admittedly, hiring a Performance Engineer now is a bit late, but it is not that much of a stretch. Rumors suggest the CDMA iPhone may be prepping for an early 2011 launch which is a relatively wide launch window. This would put the handset in the final stages of testing and a quick hire could be done to help iron out all those final details.

Update: Commenter fernando notes that Mexican carrier lusacell will have the CDMA iPhone, but we have confirmed that the iPhone is GSM and will run on the carrier's new GSM network, not its CDMA network.

[Via Ubergizmo]



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A recent job posting on Apple's corporate job board loosely suggests Apple may be testing a CDMA iPhone. The posting for a Cellular Systems...
 

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4 Comments

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fernando

Last week Iusacell announced that they are going the offer the iPhone 4 in Mexico. The intresting part of this is that Iusacell is the only CDMA network in Mexico and they have a partnership with Verizon. Visit Iusacell.com.mx for the confirmation.

December 13 2010 at 11:11 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Izzy

Not sure there is a connection. The time frame is way to tight for their to be a connection for debugging. Apple doesn't plan things last minute.

December 10 2010 at 3:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brent

Could also be for a CDMA 3G iPad. The MiFi bundle that Verizon is selling now shows that Apple at least has a working relationship with Verizon already and could just be a pre-cursor to selling a version of iPad 2 that runs on Verizon's network. This could also be for a CDMA version of iPhone 5 that could potentially be released on Verizon in June.

December 10 2010 at 2:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Brent's comment
Charli

agreed. there is no contract stopping anything on the ipad. And it would also benefit from being usable on any system.

Frankly given the talk of a contract with ATT that doesn't end until 2012 I have to think that this could be all about the ipad. Seems like it took off even faster than Apple expected, especially in business. Opening things up this way so that companies can stick with the same folks that provide their cell phones etc makes a lot of sense.

December 13 2010 at 12:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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