The latest iPhone on Verizon rumor made the rounds on Wednesday, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that Apple will mass produce a CDMA-based iPhone by the end of the year, the technology currently used by Verizon.
The iPhone would be similar to the iPhone 4, but will run on a Qualcomm chip, the Journal said. It will hit shelves in the first quarter of 2011.
When asked about the rumors at the CTIA trade show in San Francisco, however, Verizon Wireless president and chief executive Lowell McAdam declined comment.
"This is one of those things that rolls out every few weeks whether there's a basis for it or not," McAdam said. "I can't really give you any insight … I think Apple is the one who has to make that announcement."
McAdam made his comments during a press conference to discuss Verizon's rollout of its 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network. Verizon will launch LTE in 38 U.S. cities by year's end and reach all subscribers with 4G by the end of 2013, he said.
If anything, a Verizon iPhone would run on LTE, not CDMA. "I expect at some point in time our business interests are going to align, and I think LTE is another great reason why [Apple would] want to have a device or tablet" on Verizon, McAdam said.
McAdam's words echoed what Verizon chief executive Ivan Seidenberg said at an investor's conference last month.
"We don't feel like we have an iPhone deficit. We would love to carry it when we get there, but we have to earn it," Seidenberg said at the time. "I think 4G will accelerate the process, and any other decisions Apple makes would be fine with us. Hopefully, at some point Apple will get with the program."
Last year, Seidenberg and Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook dismissed the idea of a CDMA iPhone, saying that CDMA technology is on its way out and that such a device wouldn't have wide enough distribution to be useful to Apple. "CDMA is – doesn't really have a life to it after a point in time," Cook said during an April 2009 conference call.
As a result, a "CDMA iPhone" could be for Sprint, it could be for the Chinese market, or is just something Apple is working on without a definitive carrier agreement. Until Steve Jobs takes the stage with a Verizon logo behind him, we'll just have to wait.