Pundit: CDMA iPhone 4 Codenamed N92 Nears Production

The CDMA iPhone 4 is again in the news, this time labeled as a Verizon-exclusive device scheduled to ship in January 2011, following a typical Apple event where the company’s execs are expected to officially introduce the new device.

Apple pundit John Gruber expects Apple to launch the CDMA-capable phone at an event, according to a recent blog post of his simply entitled “N92.”

“I’m going to say it’d be an event,” he writes.

“I don’t think the lines would be as long as they were this summer for the iPhone 4 on AT&T, but I think there are going to be lines — especially in places where AT&T service is poor, like New York and San Francisco,” the pundit stresses.

Gruber casts doubt that Apple will be able to fulfill demand, given that Cupertino is already struggling to ship the current iPhone 4, not to mention the white model, which still hasn’t been officially released anywhere on the globe.

Yet the information he’s been receiving seems to corroborate talks of a January release for the CDMA iPhone 4, through Verizon.

“I don’t know anything about negotiations with Verizon, and I doubt anyone does other than the highest-level executives at both companies,” Gruber notes.

“But I do know that engineering-wise, the wheels are turning on N92, the CDMA variant of the iPhone 4,” he reveals.

“It’s certainly not in production yet, and hasn’t reached DVT status (device verification test — like Gray Powell’s infamous stolen unit), but it is, a few little birdies claim, at EVT (engineering verification test),” the pundit explains.

According to the knowledgeable blogger, EVT is one step below DVT, “which is one step below production,” he outlines.

“So it’s right about where you’d think it would be if it were scheduled to go on sale in January. The CDMA iPhone is no longer a cold storage, keep-it-alive-just-in-case-we-need-it project,” Gruber concludes.

In the meanwhile, Apple is expected to drop a FaceTime capable iPod touch, and new versions of the iPad and Apple TV at an event reportedly scheduled to go down in September.