It's Here. It's Here!! Verizon Rolls Out with Apple iPhone

The long awaited announcement at the Verizon press conference was today at 11:00 am eastern in NYC. February 3rd Verizon customers will get first dibs on the iPhone 4 and later will be available to the public February 10, 2011. 


 Tim Cook, Apple's COO joined Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdam and announced the new partnership, saying, “We’re incredibly pleased to give Verizon’s customers the choice we’ve been waiting for.”


I of course was not there but read Engadget, which gave us a live feed of the event. One thing I read and wasn't too happy about was that Verizon's iPhone will be a different device. CDMA is what they call it. During the questions portion of the conference, Ars Technica asked, "what happens when you're on a call and need to use data?"Dan Dee replied "Same as a CDMA device." That means we can't :( a CDMA device will not allow us to be on a call and use data at the same time.  But Verizon will be able to use their iPhone as a hot spot ( I don't know what that means yet, I'm technologically challenged). Obviously there will be differences between AT&T and Verizon's iPhone, each having advantages and disadvantages. 


Engadget was kind enough to break down the differences between the two phones: 
                                                                      


                                                                           AT&T                               Verizon 

Price (on contract)	$199 16GB, $299 32GB	$199 16GB, $299 32GB
Data plan1	$15 / 200MB $25 / 2GB $45 / 2GB with tethering	$15 / 150MB? $29.99 / unlimited? $49.99 / unlimited with 2GB tethering?
Early upgrades available at launch	Yes	No
Global roaming capability	Yes	No
Simultaneous voice / data on 3G	Yes	No
WiFi mobile hotspot option	No	Yes
4G data (HSPA+ / LTE)	No	No
Rated talk time	2G voice: 14 hours 3G voice: 7 hours 3G web: 6 hours WiFi web: 10 hours	2G voice: Not available 3G voice: 7 hours 3G web: 6 hours WiFi web: 10 hours

Verizon hasn't announced iPhone plan pricing yet, so current smartphone pricing is used here for comparison.

Since I am already an existing Verizon customer, I will be pre ordering the iPhone because I am so ready to get rid of my horrible Blackberry! Not sure what this means for Blackberry, Androids, and AT&T but I'm sure its not good. I on the other hand am very excited to get my hands on it, along with many other people.

To Sign up Sign up to get all the details on how to be one of the first to get iPhone 4 on Verizon go to verizonwireless.com