Verizon iPhone On the Way – But Not Before Christmas

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL ) will escalate the war for smartphone dominance in early 2011 by releasing a new version of its iPhone to run on the popular Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ ) network, the biggest U.S. carrier by subscribers. However, the phone won't make it out in time for the Christmas season, as many had hoped. Apple will be ramping up to mass produce the new touchscreen handset by the end of 2010 and release it in the first quarter of 2011 , people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. While the phone would be similar to the iPhone 4 sold by its current carrier, AT&T (NYSE: T ), it would be based on an alternative wireless technology used by Verizon, the people said. The Verizon iPhone will mark the end of AT&T's agreement with Apple that gave the telecommunications giant exclusive rights to market and sell the handset since 2007, when Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone. Verizon has been testing its networks and capacity to handle the heavy data load by iPhone users, seeking to avoid the kind of bad publicity that plagued AT&T after booming sales of data-hungry iPhones crippled its network.