The Verizon iPhone: A rumor roundup

As the minutes tick by to what looks like the imminent release of the iPhone on Verizon, here's a roundup of what could be expected during the next hour and what's happened during the past few months:

As soon as the iPad made its Verizon debut, every announcement out of Verizon began looking like it would be the iPhone's turn and that 2011 would be the year of the Verizon iPhone. A couple weeks before Christmas, the rumors began circulating that a 4G LTE Verizon iPhone would be introduced right after the holiday.

Apple put the freeze on employee vacations beginning the last week of this month until the third week of February while there were reports of Verizon snatching up iPhone-related domains.

Our friends over at the Wall Street Journal confirmed the rumor, and given their history on predicting such matters, we have little reason to doubt that Verizon is announcing the real deal here.

Meanwhile, AT&T is already lobbing shots at potential leapers, warning them that they too are destined for "life in the slow lane." In what looks like a preemptive move, AT&T, Apple and other retailers like Target have slashed the official price of the iPhone 3GS to $49 -- plus 2-year contract, of course.

All will be revealed in about 20 minutes (as of this writing). Stay tuned.