14 DAY TRIAL // Verizon seems determined to go not only for a partnership with Microsoft for the release of a Windows Mobile-based handset next year, but for other popular mobile platforms as well, including the Google Android operating system and the iPhone OS. A job listing on the company's site hints at the fact that it plans on joining the Android game too, while reports on a possible deal between the carrier and Apple suggest that two devices might see the light in the near future.
According to the job post, the Android Devices Expert the carrier is looking for should “be responsible for end to end delivery of innovative java based mobile applications on existing or pre-commercial handsets with an initial focus on voicemail applications. It is also expected to drive application development; conduct required testing and provides production support.”
It is not clear what the company's plans really are, for there might be an Android team already working on shaping the future, while the operator could very well plan to release its own Verizon-branded Android applications into the wild, but it sounds rather great for its subscribers that Google's platform will become available for them as well.
Another possible move that Verizon is reported to plan on making is adding an iPhone to its offering. The latest news on the web points towards the fact that there will be more than one such gadget planned, and that one of them will come as a less expensive calling device that resembles the iPhone, which should be called iPhone Lite, while another one could be a media pad featuring Wi-Fi capabilities.
In case this proves true, Verizon and Apple will be able to work together, while the deal between AT&T and Apple will still stand, especially given the fact that the carrier that has exclusivity on the iPhone until 2010 wants to extend it to 2011. There are no specific details on what kind of phone Verizon and Apple will actually release into the wild, yet it might be an LTE one, given the fact that the operator plans to move to that technology next year, as well as a less likely CDMA device.
Tony Melone, Verizon Wireless CTO, stated in an interview during the CTIA Wireless tradeshow that Apple would be able to release a CDMA iPhone to work on Verizon's network. On the other hand, Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg said to the Wall Street Journal that Apple did not seriously plan on developing a CDMA iPhone, which means that we can only speculate on the type of phone the two companies could launch.