Verizon iPhone: Five Things To Chew On

A Verizon-carried iPhone -- a version of the iPhone that can run on the CDMA network Verizon Wireless uses, that is -- has been rumored for years, with speculation seeming to re-intensify every few months. But this time, according to The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other sources that have quoted people familiar with the matter in the past few days, the Verizon iPhone is for real.

Though neither Verizon nor Apple has confirmed the iPhone for Verizon Wireless users just yet, several reports have stated that Verizon plans to make the announcement during an event Tuesday in New York, with Verizon President and COO Lowell McAdam set to participate.

With a Verizon iPhone apparently imminent, here are five topics that will dominate iPhone discussion in the next few weeks.

1. How Much Does Apple Stand to Gain?: Some analysts believe Verizon, which has 93 million subscribers, could sell as many as 12 million iPhones in the first year of availability. What many are focused on as much as the overall number, however, is how many of those would be net new iPhone users versus those switching over to Verizon from AT&T.

2. Is AT&T In Trouble?: Depends on what's meant by "trouble." AT&T's archrival will land the super-popular smartphone, sure, but AT&T isn't losing the ability to sell the iPhone. The much-criticized carrier also seems to have seen the writing on the wall in recent months, and AT&T has been moving to embrace Google's Android and other platforms in preparation for the loss of iPhone exclusivity. As several observers have noted, it may be the country's No. 3 and No. 4 carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile, who suffer worse: no iPhone (yet) for them.

3. When Will A Verizon iPhone Be Available?: Several reports have mentioned a late January release date for the Verizon iPhone. Others, such as Boy Genius Report, have noted via anonymous sources that Apple has prohibited employees from taking vacation days between Feb. 3 and Feb. 6, while Apple Insider has mentioned vacation limitations for the last week of January.

4. How Will Verizon Make Its iPhone Offer Attractive?: Verizon already has at least one trump card: it's perceived as most reliable of the big four U.S. carriers in terms of service, and AT&T's service issues have been maligned for years. The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that Verizon is also planning to offer unlimited data plans with the iPhone -- something AT&T stopped offering for new subscribers in summer 2010. Verizon is also reportedly bulking up its network in hopes of heading off inevitable concern over its ability to handle a spike in subscribers.

5. How Will iPhone Competitors Respond?: The astounding growth of Google's Android OS was among the most-talked about mobile device stories of 2010, and if the bumper crop of new Android devices debuted at CES was any indication, Android's momentum will be no less forceful this year. But a Verizon iPhone is a sizable countermove to all that Android lovin'; look for Android-allied vendors like Motorola, Samsung and HTC to fire back or at least more aggressively promote their own showpiece phones in the coming weeks.