Regarding the Verizon/iPhone Hardware Issue

John Biggs:

Tell me “I told you so” in six months, but Bloomberg’s exciting news that two dudes said something about the iPhone coming to Verizon is false until we see hardware and there has been no hardware. Apple picked GSM because it is an international standard. CDMA, the system used by Verizon and Sprint, is about as international as American beer – both are considered weak and both are reviled.

It’s true that a Verizon iPhone would require new hardware. But that’s not a holdup. I’m nearly certain that a Verizon-compatible iPhone is pretty much like the Intel-compatible version of Mac OS X — something that Apple has kept going all along, ready to put into production when, if ever, its time comes.

It’s all strategy and negotiations. I wouldn’t have been shocked if they’d gone to Verizon a year ago, and wouldn’t be shocked if it doesn’t happen for another two or three years. But whenever the time comes, hardware won’t hold it up.

★ Wednesday, 30 June 2010