Verizon iPhone: Too Little, Too Late?

Verizon and Apple met in New York today to announce the Verizon iPhone; something we’ve all been waiting for, for four years – ever since Apple announced the original on AT&T’s sub-par network.  Apple’s marketing slogan is true: the iPhone really is the ‘phone that changed it all’. Four years later, however, just how well is that phone holding up?

First off, the Verizon iPhone won’t be 4G; they’re sticking with the CDMA technology that Verizon’s had for years. Any iPhone on Verizon’s network would need to incorporate CDMA technology for when 4G coverage isn’t available, but the lack of the hardware means those in 4G markets will be stuck with the slower speeds. It would’ve made sense, with 4G having just launched, for Verizon to release the iPhone as it’s flagship 4G phone, but instead there is a wave of new phones coming out in just a few months that have 4G speed.

The iPhone’s feature set was impressive when it first came out. All touch screen, computer-like web browsing; now Android has made up a lot of ground and is surpassing the iPhone from almost every technical standpoint. Even the most recent additions to the iPhone such as the front-facing camera are now being done on Android phones, such as the HTC Thunderbolt or the Droid Bionic. The Nvidia Tegra 2 processor is bringing a huge boost to mobile graphics performance, and the versatility of features such as a removable battery, removable memory, extreme customization, etc. bring another edge to the Android devices.

The point is, a Verizon iPhone was bigger news last year. This year, Android market share is up dramatically, there are phones out there that are far beyond the iPhone’s capabilities, and the iPhone is stuck in last year’s network technology. There’s a lot of other great options out there, and Apple is going to have to step up their game if they want to keep up.