The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon may offer an iPhone to customers as soon as 2011 Q1. Would that not be awesome? But wait, we have been hearing this same song be sung ALL SUMMER. It might seems as if it will really happen this time, however. Back in June, MSNBC released a similar article claiming the same date.
What does this mean for Apple? Most analyst suspect that Apple feels like they are losing ground in wireless communication to Android-based phones. The WSJ article shows that over the past nine months, there are roughly only 2.5 millions more iPhones than Android-based phones. This number has been reduced significantly since Jan 2010 where the difference was nearly 10 million. Moving to Verizon, the wireless provider with the most subscribers, is a wise decision on Apple's part.
What does this mean for consumers and developers? For Verizon consumers, this means they will gain an option in the category of smartphones. I do not, however, expect to see a dramatic rise in sales of iPhones vs. Android-based phones. The reason being is the lack of specific hardware and ease of development of Android apps. The uptight nature of Apple and the iPhone AppStore makes developing applications and getting them published costly and slow. The openness of the Droid Market and the number of user-friendly development tools makes Android a clear winner.
Wall Street Journal Article
