Rumor no More? Verizon iPhone Said to Launch this January

What has become a running joke in the tech industry may finally be getting serious. According to TechCruch, Apple has placed orders for “millions of CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone run due in December.” The site says the launch will be in January, and the design will largely remain the same–with the exception of the addition of an antenna insulator. Now, a CDMA chip doesn’t guarantee a Verizon Wireless launch. Apple could go with Sprint, but it obviously attract more subscribers off the bat by going with Big Red.

Of course, announcing in January doesn’t mean a Verizon iPhone will go on sale in the same month. The carrier may choose to launch in the middle of the year, since that is when Verizon previously said it would begin rolling out LTE-capable handsets. And I just don’t see Apple launching a device without this higher-speed data capability. I guess we’ll find out more this winter. No wonder AT&T is playing up the BlackBerry Torch and Android, and claims to be the premier Windows Phone 7 carrier. The exclusivity clock must be running out.