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Can Verizon Take the iPhone’s Heat?

Can Verizon Take the iPhone’s Heat?

Starting next month, Verizon will begin carrying Apple’s iPhone, ending AT&T’s exclusive U.S. rights on the device. Those who’ve complained about AT&T’s service in the past may take the opportunity to jump ship, but it remains to be seen how well Verizon will handle a flood of iPhone refugees. Meanwhile, AMD boots its boss, MySpace might sell to someone and Facebook might sell to everyone.

Perhaps you have an iPhone, and perhaps you were at CES last week. If so, you may have noticed that your phone’s data services just plain didn’t work most of the time. For some users, that’s an aberration that only happens when they go to very crowded events.

But for users who live in certain cities, that’s pretty much an everyday condition. In places like San Francisco and New York, AT&T’s (NYSE: T) cellular data network has been entangled in a years-long traffic jam, and it’s driven some users to solemnly swear that the day the iPhone comes to another network, that’s where they’re headed.

Now that day has arrived. Or at least, we now know when it’s coming. Feb. 10 will be the day the iPhone will arrive on the Verizon network, ending Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) exclusive agreement with AT&T in the U.S.

For the most part, the Verizon version of iPhone 4 will be just about the same as the AT&T version. It’s mostly the same design, though I’ve seen photos indicating the metal outer band is just little different — possibly a post-antennagate redesign. Same chip, same display. Same price, too: US$199 to $299 with a two-year contract.

To run on Verizon’s network, this new iPhone will use CDMA technology, not GSM. So it seems this is definitely not going to be a 4G phone — I guess that comes later. Also, the Verizon iPhone 4 can be used as a WiFi hotspot. Turn on that feature, and multiple devices in the room can wirelessly latch onto the phone’s data connection.

But the Verizon iPhone also shares a shortcoming with a lot of other Verizon smartphones — you can’t make calls and exchange cellular data at the same time. That might affect the use of certain applications, but for most users it’s probably not a make-or-breaker.

A much bigger issue for many will be how well Verizon’s network deals with a bump in traffic. Judging from how much energy Verizon iPhone rumors have had for so long, this thing is going to draw in a lot of customers. Some will be angry AT&T refugees; some will have been waiting for an iPhone for years but couldn’t bring themselves to sign on with AT&T; some will be loyal Verizonistas who just want to step up from their old dumbphones.

Verizon says it’s confident it can handle the load, but a study from the Yankee Group indicates the carrier’s network currently hosts the lowest percentage of smartphones among any U.S. nationwide carrier. A surge of new iPhone users will certainly drive that number up, and then we’ll start to see whether a Verizon iPhone restores balance to the universe or just tips the scale in the other direction.

[Thanks: http://www.technewsworld.com]

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