“If the press writes something long enough and hard enough, eventually it comes true,” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam began, addressing a small crowd of journalists at the company’s press event in Manhattan today. “Today we’re bringing to market the fruit of our strategic partnership with another giant of the high tech industry and that’s Apple.”
After years of speculation from Verizon customers and an overzealous media, the wireless carrier today announced that it will finally be adding Apple’s popular handset to its line of smartphones.
Apple COO Tim Cook joined McAdam on stage. “We’ve been looking forward to today for a long time,” he told the press. “Since 2007 the iPhone has been a phenomenal success and has completely changed the expectation of what you carry in your pocket.”
The CDMA Verizon version of the phone will utilize the carrier’s 3G network, EVDO. It offers the standard features introduced with the AT&T iPhone 4 model, including Facetime, Retina display, HD recording, and a 5MP camera. The handset will be available through Verizon and Apple stores.
The phone will also feature 3D personal hotspot capabilities, letting users connect as many as five WiFi devices to the handset.
Verizon executive Dan Mead took the stage next to brag about the state of Verizon’s network, a primary selling point, in light of the phone’s notorious tendency to clog AT&T. “We have more than enough capacity,” said Mead. “We have designed this network for customers to have the optimum experience. We have been drive testing this device on our network and now we’re into the thousands of devices on our network over the last several months, and we could not be more pleased about where we are.”
