Yesterday, when we wrote that The Wall Street Journal was reporting that Verizon iPhones were going into production by the end of the year and on sale early next year, we apparently should’ve taken the checkmark in the Verizon logo as a hint.
As John Gruber of Daring Fireball pointed out today, WSJ rewrote the article since yesterday, which was mainly based on insidery speculation, and reposted the Verizon iPhone as fully confirmed with a much more fleshed out article.
As Gruber put it, “I don’t think I’ve ever before linked to the same article twice in succession, but the WSJ has completely rewritten the lead to this story,” turning it from a quick “Apple briefed some unnamed people” article into a fully realized post, complete with graphs, speculation and some history regarding the oft-discussed Verizon iPhone rumor.
The only new information the rewritten article provides is, according to “one person familiar with the matter,” Verizon Wireless has been meeting with Apple, adding capacity and testing its networks in preparation for the heavy data load that generally accompanies iPhone users in an effort to avoid the same stigma widely associated with AT&T’s network. Though, according to WSJ, various official studies have concluded that Verizon has a superior network compared to AT&T’s.
The infamous “person familiar with the matter” said Qualcomm Inc. would be making a chip set for the Verizon iPhone, though everyone from every company supposedly involved with anything having to do with a Verizon iPhone declined to comment, creating an intriguing little mystery regarding who exactly leaked this information to the Wall Street Journal, with Verizon probably standing to benefit the most from an early leak.
The AT&T iPhone exclusivity agreement hasn’t ever really made much sense for Apple, with high demand for the iPhone spread across every major mobile carrier, and no matter how much AT&T was paying for the exclusivity agreement, it most likely would not have topped what every other carrier combined would’ve been paying Apple for the iPhone.
At least now, according to a secret team of people familiar with the matter, there’s a pretty good chance Apple will have to start approving “Can You Hear Me Now?” apps for the iPhone store early next year.
(The Wall Street Journal via Daring Fireball)
