Verizon iPhone: Why some say January, and others remain skeptical

Verizon iPhone gossip again gripped the blogosphere yesterday. But what do our reader think of the possibility that the iPhone – previously available only on AT&T – might soon become available on Verizon?

According to a slew of reports released yesterday, a Verizon iPhone could hit the US market as soon as January of 2011 – too late for the holidays, but in plenty of time to make life pretty rough for the folks over at AT&T. The January rumor, of course, is one we've heard before, and although the evidence uncovered by TechCrunch is particularly interesting, we'll hold fire before we proclaim the Verizon iPhone a done deal.

But that doesn't mean we don't want to hear from you, our beloved audience. Most of the times we've posted an item on a possible Verizon iPhone, the commenter traffic has turned into a commenter traffic jam within a couple of hours – it's clearly a provocative topic. So without further ado, let's go to the mailbag, and see what you have to say about the possibility of Verizon ending AT&T's – ahem – death-grip on the iPhone.

A few of the comments on the most recent Verizon iPhone story were pretty straightforward. "I want competitive choices for my hardware," a gentleman named Ross wrote. Other folks took the time to indulge in a little Verizon cheerleading. "I love Verizon," Monitor reader Fay opined. "Verizon will take over the cell phone industry!"

At least one reader, Rock M, had a tale from the front lines of the smartphone wars.

"I was at my local Verizon store the other day," wrote Rock M, who said he had previously been thinking about upgrading his BlackBerry Storm to a Droid Incredible. "The sales rep told me that [Verizon was] set to launch an Apple Product. He did not say it was an iPhone, but he said for sure that [Verizon is] launching a product produced by Apple," Rock M added. Could the guy have meant an iPhone? An iPad? Or was the rep just making it up?

And then there were the skeptics.

"You know who 'leaks' this stuff?" asked reader Jeff rhetorically. "Verizon!" Another reader pointed a finger at AT&T (they might want to keep people from growing impatient and defecting to an Android on another network). Meanwhile, George pointed out that we've been hearing these Verizon iPhone rumors for a while – and that we could be hearing them for a while longer. "Then in January it will be reported the iPhone is coming to Verizon in June 2011," George joked. "Then in June it will be reported the iPhone is coming to Verizon in Jan 2012." And so on.

Over to you. What do you think about the possibility of a Verizon iPhone? Drop us a line in the comments section – and as always, be polite. We like civil readers.