Verizon to Make Announcement Today

Today is Verizon’s big press conference that everyone is anticipating will announce the iPhone’s debut on the network.  In the mean time, Verizon has been trading punches with AT&T regarding network speed and who is best suited to run the must have device.

Yesterday a representative of AT&T said the iPhone wasn’t well suited for a CDMA network, and users had better get ready to wait if they tried to run the phone on Verizon’s network.

However, AT&T’s network isn’t exactly known for its reliability, and Verizon pounced on that.  “AT&T is known for a lot of things, but network quality is not one of them,” Jeffrey Nelson – a spokesman for Verizon Wireless – told The New York Times.

Anyone who hasn’t been living in a bubble for the past week expects today’s announcement – scheduled during last weekend’s CES – to be about the iPhone coming to Verizon’s network.  There’s been speculation about the union since AT&T and Apple had a bit of a break up a few months back.  And many questions have risen as a result of the speculation.

Will it be the same phone that AT&T users have, or will it be specially formulated for Verizon’s CDMA network?  Will those changes make it more expensive than the AT&T phone?  When will it be available?  And what will this do to the two networks?

It seems pretty clear what it will do for Apple.  Domination.  With two networks now offering the phone the market share for iPhones will only go up.  It’s a smart move for Apple, as AT&T recently announced they’re expanding their offerings of android phones bringing more competition among AT&T users for the iPhone.

What would be great is if all this hype was for nothing.  Imagine if the announcement later today wasn’t to tell the world the iPhone was coming to Verizon.  What if it was to tell everyone that Verizon just bought T-Mobile or that they created their own must have device that is going to change the world?  I would love it if one of these networks or big wig companies did something surprising for once.

What would really give Verizon an edge is if the iPhone 5 is announced for Verizon Wireless and not AT&T.  That would certainly make AT&T kick and scream wouldn’t it?

AT&T and Verizon are acting like spoiled kids over a shiny new toy.  Only Apple is being smart about this.  They’re just sitting back and watching the free publicity fly.  Regardless of whether or not Verizon announces that the iPhone is coming to their network today, the bottom line is they’re creating more and more buzz about the iPhone, which will drum up more and more sales for Apple.  So iPhone users, can you hear me now?

January 11, 2011