WSJ: Apple making new iPhone for Verizon

WSJ: Apple making new iPhone for Verizon

2010-10-07 02:18:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) -- Apple, Inc. is planning to start mass producing a new iPhone by the end of 2010 that will allow Verizon Wireless to sell the smartphone by early next year, according to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

The Journal, citing people briefed by Apple, reported that the new iPhone would be similar in design to the iPhone 4 but would be based on an alternative wireless technology called CDMA that is used by Verizon. The current iPhone 4 is being sold by AT&T, Inc.

The phone, for which Qualcomm Inc. is providing a key chip, is expected to be released in the first quarter of next year, according to the Journal.

An Apple CDMA iPhone would mark the end of the company's exclusive U.S. arrangement with Apple that AT&T has had since 2007, when the original iPhone debuted in the United States.

Besides the Apple CDMA iPhone, the Journal reported, Apple is also developing a fifth-generation iPhone which will be a different form factor from those currently available. It was unclear how soon that version will be available to Verizon.

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