Starting February 10th Verizon Wireless will begin selling the iPhone to its customers. They will most likely promote this with a new customer deal as they usually do with new products.
This is still a rather interesting move by VZW however when you consider two out of the three major smartphone competitors devices will be sold by one carrier. What will this mean for At&T? How many of their customers will begin the switch to Big red? I gather there will be quite a few with Verizon's superior service.
data package rates will factor into this equation however and AT&T just unveiled a $15 unlimited data promo which is meant to take on Verizon's $29.99 data package. Having the iPhone in their arsenal will surely prove to be a very strategic move by Verizon however and may also be the straw that breaks the camels back putting Verizon Wireless over the top. Many wonder if there is a catch, and there is.. ready?
Verizon's 4G network is only available in select cities at the moment. On top of that, the 4G connections that Verizon is allowing currently is mostly for hardware such as the pads and select phones. For the iPhone to work on Verizon's 4G the hardware will need some adjustments but Apple is not willing to make that compromise with their hardware just so that it will work on Verizon's current setup. So if your an iPhone junkie and are switching from AT&T you will have to suffer with a bit slower speed for your data connections. Or at least a bit slower than your used to.
If you are a new iPhone customer however and have been with Verizon for a while, say with a Blackberry for example, you are used to the data speed Verizon provides to you and you should have no issues. We will have to wait and see what comes of this. I'm sticking with my Blackberry for the moment as I don't think the iPhone is going to handle what I need from a phone. I abuse my phone like there is no tomorrow and my current device handles everything I throw at it. I would have my doubts as to whether or not an iPhone on the Verizon network would do what I need it to do. And with all the contract hub-bub it is not worth the hassle. I feel many will echo that sentiment as well.
