Verizon iPhone 4 Now Available Nationwide

Customers began queuing up early for the chance to get their

hands on the Verizon iPhone 4. At one Verizon Wireless store in midtown

Manhattan, at least according to the clipboard-bearing employees gathered out

front, the line began before the doors opened at 7 a.m.,

and stretched down to the Old Navy store about 75 feet away.

Roughly an hour later, that line had winnowed down to a

steadily replenished two to three customers, who disappeared into the store

(and out of the morning’s freezing temperatures) at a fairly rapid clip.

“Transferring or purchasing?” Verizon employees asked, before ushering each

inside.

According to news reports, it was a scene repeated, with

slight variations, at Verizon Wireless and Apple stores throughout the country.

The carrier has priced the CDMA-based device at $199 for the 16GB model and

$299 for the 32GB, with the inevitable two-year contract.

With the exception of a little tinkering with the

exterior antenna rim to make it CDMA-applicable, the Verizon iPhone 4 bears

little outside difference from the AT&T version in both hardware and

software. Apple was apparently unwilling to make the iPhone compatible with

Verizon’s LTE 4G service out of concerns that the necessary hardware

alterations would compromise the smartphone’s overall design. However, Verizon

did manage to slip in one added feature: the model apparently supports “Personal

Hotspots,” which will connect up to five other devices via WiFi.

For more, read the eWeek article: Verizon iPhone 4 Launches, Drawing Customers and Big Expectations