LTE iPhone Is What Verizon Wants Not Plain CDMA iPhone

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An analyst said the other day that Apple will be building no less than 3 million CDMA iPhones for Verizon starting with December 2010. But today we hear differently from Verizon’s CEO, Ivan Seidenberg.

It seems that Verizon isn’t just happy with a CDMA iPhone 4! The carrier wants Apple to make them an LTE iPhone that will basically be the first Apple mobile device to come with 4G support out of the box.

Ivan Seidenberg was speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference and the fact that he was so quick to dismiss a CDMA iPhone is puzzling. We have plenty of rumors based on all sorts of leaks and speculations saying that Apple and Verizon will tie the knot early next year, but now we have to take this official position into account too.

Here’s what Verizon is saying:

“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.
“I think 4G will accelerate the process, and any other decisions Apple makes would be fine with us,” he added. “Hopefully, at some point Apple will get with the program.”

So let me get this straight, is Seidenberg saying that Apple doesn’t want to make a CDMA iPhone yet? Or that Apple doesn’t want to “get with the program” and let Verizon have its way with the iPhone just like it does with any other smartphone out there?

Unfortunately Apple will probably fail to respond publicly to Verizon’s CEO and we can speculate all we want on the statements made by Seidenberg today without reaching any significant conclusion other that AT&T is definitely losing iPhone exclusivity in the near future. Apple simply has to target Verizon with its iPhone, not only to pitch the device to over 90 million subscribers, but, most importantly, to fight the Android threat on its own turf.