Verizon iPhone to launch after CES, says BusinessWeek

It's beginning to look a lot like the week after Christmas, when East Coast denizens dig out from their snow cover, and the incoming emails from vendors exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show (which starts January 6 in Las Vegas) form a digital blizzard of their own. One product that everyone would like to see at CES, for better or worse, is the Verizon version of the iPhone -- but it's highly unlikely that it will put in an appearance.

Despite the out-there rumor floated earlier this month that the VZW iPhone would debut immediately after Christmas, there's no sign of the device yet. The latest suggestion of a whisper of an actual introduction date, however, comes courtesy of sources to BusinessWeek's Peter Burrows.

In an article today addressing the conventional wisdom about winners and losers when a Verizon iPhone hits the market, he passed along a tidbit from a person "familiar with Apple's plans who is not authorized to discuss them publicly." The source told Burrows that "Apple's introduction of an iPhone for use on Verizon's network will come sometime after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January." The story's lead paragraph says the CW is that the iPhone on Verizon could come by Valentine's Day, but there's no particular sourcing for that date.

Of course, "sometime after CES" could technically include any date from January 10 of 2011 up until the start of the following CES in 2012. If you asked me to predict a date, with no inside information... well, let's look at the calendar. CES wraps up on January 9th; Macworld Expo kicks off on the 26th. Put your finger on the Tuesday in between the two and you get January 18.

There's a problem with the 18th, though; Apple has already said that it will announce quarterly earnings on that day. Looking at the past year, there were two major product introductions that happened two days after a quarterly earnings report. The most recent was the "Back to the Mac" event on October 20, with the earnings report on 10/18; before that, back in January, the earnings call on the 25th was followed two days later by a magical and revolutionary product launch on the 27th.

Attention tech journalists and industry analysts: if you weren't expecting to be in San Francisco on January 20, 2011, maybe you should set up a fare alert and keep an eye on your mailbox, ... you know, just in case.

[via MacRumors]

View Tags

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/11_02/b42…

Categories

Rumors iPhone

It's beginning to look a lot like the week after Christmas, when East Coast denizens dig out from their snow cover, and the incoming emails...

Add a Comment

Sign in »

12 Comments

Filter by:

Apple will announce the Verizon iPhone on January 11, 2011 (1.11.11 which is a Tuesday) and will be available in February. My source is two under S. Jobs and has traveled to Foxcon twice since summer 2010 to secure CDMA fabrication contracts for the Verizon iPhone.

January 04 2011 at 1:25 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to AM's comment

danhawk911

Steve Balmer? lol j/k

January 04 2011 at 9:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Danny

I know... Verizon rumors have been there forever. This time though, signs are a bit more clearer. So I'd put my money on a ViPhone - just like the author of this article.

My instant thought about it was: they combine it with some other presentation. It's been rumored sooo long, it's not quite worth an own little special event. But why not add it as a "one more thing". Together it could be enough to held an event with the MacAppStore and iWork'11 and the V-iPhone as a "one more thing". But then again - Apple usually sticks to ONE topic in their presentations.

But we all know/wait for an event to introduce iPad2 - along with a new subscription model for newspapers and (possibly?) THE DAILY could be highlighted on that event. Shown on the new hardware... and "boom" ... one more thing.... the Verizon iPhone.

Apple's been outselling the iPhone 4 so far. Imagine if they bring it to Verizon in January/February and China (CDMA Network) - that means millions more will buy it until the iPhone 5 gets attention in June/July. Demand was so high - if they released the Verizon iPhone along with the new model in July, it would be sold out for MONTHS. I don't see them want this.

just my 2cents.

December 31 2010 at 1:30 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

bill

Verizon...no iPhone for you!

December 30 2010 at 4:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Maria

Blame me for there not being a Verizon iPhone right after Christmas.

I'm a long-time Verizon customer ready for a phone upgrade now and am admiring the Droid 2. But iPhone rumors are making me hesitate, so I'm waiting. Apple certainly won't release a Verizon iPhone until AFTER I've locked in for 2 years on another phone. The longer I wait and see, the longer everyone else will wait and see. When I buy the Droid 2, Apple will release the Verizon iPhone. That's my luck. Sorry folks.

December 30 2010 at 10:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

3 replies to Maria's comment

DeaconGTG

A person "familiar with Apple's plans who is not authorized to discuss them publicly..."

So... anyone in the company except for Steve Jobs.

December 30 2010 at 10:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

TheCastro

I firmly believe that the iPhone won't be announced until after the 30 day return policy from Xmas presents expires, AT&T is smart enough to stipulate in their contract with Apple that if they want to term their exclusive deal early an announcement couldn't happen until after those sales are "final."

December 30 2010 at 8:18 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Freeport

I'm getting a little tired of these Verizon rumors. They've been around for a long time, and nothing has happened. It seems obvious to me that everyone wants one so much, they're trying to imagine it into existence.

There might be a Verizon phone, but Apple won't break iPhone's product cycle by introducing a sister model 7 months after the iPhone 4, nor a half-upgrade 5 months before unveiling iPhone 5. It simply won't happen, because it's not the way Aple does business. If the phone arrives, it will arrive together with the iPhone 5. If. Isn't this obvious to anyone else?

December 30 2010 at 12:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Doc Rock

Hold on to your hat sister here we go again

December 30 2010 at 12:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply