NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Wireless made the long-awaited announcement Tuesday that it will start selling a version of the iPhone 4 on Feb. 10, giving U.S. iPhone buyers a choice of carriers for the first time.
Since its 2007 debut, Apple Inc.'s phone has been sold exclusively for AT&T's network in the U.S.
Verizon Communications Inc.'s chief operating officer, Lowell McAdam, made the announcement in New York, joined by Apple COO Tim Cook, who called it "the beginning of a great relationship between Verizon and Apple."
Pre-orders for existing Verizon customers will start Feb. 3. The price will be $200 or $300 with a two-year contract, depending on the model, about the same as the iPhone through AT&T. It will be sold through Verizon, Apple and other stores nationwide, as well as over the Internet.
Verizon issued its press release at 11:11 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2011, or 1/11/11.
AT&T activated 11.1 million iPhones in the first nine months of 2010. Analysts now expect Verizon to snag some users from AT&T, but the impact will likely be muted because most iPhone users have two-year contracts, and many are on family and employer plans. Verizon did not reveal its service plan pricing on Tuesday.
Verizon's iPhone version will work only on the carrier's current "3G" network even though the carrier has fired up a faster "4G" network in many cities. That super-fast wireless data network is available only to plug-in laptop modems for now, but Verizon will have smart phones for it this summer from other manufacturers, including Motorola Mobility Inc.
Mr. Cook said the first generation of "4G" phone chips would have forced some design compromises, which Apple wasn't willing to make.
"Secondly and most importantly, Verizon customers have told us they want the iPhone now," Mr. Cook said. "I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked and my colleagues have been asked . When will the iPhonework on the Verizon network?"
The lack of 4G means the Verizon iPhone will have much slower data speeds than AT&T's, at least in the areas where AT&T has upgraded its 3G network. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel was quick to point this out, along with the fact that users won't be able to surf and talk at the same time on the Verizon iPhone. International roaming will also be very limited compared with the AT&T version.
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The original iPhone 4
In a Tuesday media event,  announced it had reached an agreement with Apple Inc. and would begin selling a  version of the  beginning early February. The move means the end of rival company 's status as the only official US carrier of the iPhone, a status it held since the first iPhone debuted in 2007.

The press conference, held in New York City, was hosted by Verizon's president, , Apple's chief operating officer, , and Verizon Wireless' chief executive officer, . Neither  CEO  nor Apple CEO Steve Jobs attended the conference. During the event, McAdam said, "If the press writes something long enough and hard enough, it eventually comes true. We're bringing the fruit of our labor with a giant partner, and that's Apple." Such a partnership had been rumored for years, and the amount of speculation grew over the past few months.

iPhone 4 pre-orders for current Verizon users begin February 3, and a public release is scheduled for February 10. The "Verizon iPhone," as it has been dubbed for months, has been altered from the original iPhone 4 so it can utilize Verizon's  CDMA (code division multiple access) network. This means, however, that Verizon iPhone users will not be able to use the company's   (long term evolution) network, and will thus be unable to make calls and access the Internet at the same time. Cook told the audience that the LTE hardware was not ready yet, saying, "The first generation LTE chip sets force some design compromises, some of which we would not make. Secondly—and most importantly—Verizon Wireless customers have told us they want the iPhone now." However, Verizon's iPhone 4 allows the user to create a , which means up to five other wireless devices can connect to the Internet through the phone.

Pricing was announced as 199 for a 16  version and US$299 for a 32 GB version, both requiring two-year contracts—the same cost for an AT&T iPhone 4. However, Verizon said it would not mention the cost of data plans at this time, with Mead saying, "We talked about the device pricing, but we're not going to talk about the pricing for the network for that connectivity."


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