verizon wireless

Reports have surfaced that Skype and Verizon Wireless have cemented a 2-3 year exclusive deal to develop and run Skype applications on Verizon smartphones. iPhone owners have been waiting for a 3G-enabled version of the Skype app for some time.

Now that AT&T and Apple have lifted the Wi-Fi only restrictions on applications like SlingPlayer, Skype users naturally expected they would be the next to benefit from this change. In fact, Skype already has a 3G-ready app but the company has delayed its release due to concerns over AT&T's network.

As pressure mounts before the Apple media event next week, reports are flying around the net about exactly what Apple will announce in San Francisco on Wednesday. Rumors of negotiations between Verizon Wireless and Apple have surfaced before, however they've picked up new steam.

Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek is the latest voice to weigh in on a Verizon iPhone deal, and he fully expects a Verizon 4G iPhone to support CDMA this coming June. Misek believes this announcement will come next week along with the launch of Apple's yet to be seen tablet computing device.

With the exclusive iPhone deal between AT&T and Apple ending this summer, Verizon is reportedly in negotiations with Apple to offer a CDMA version of the device on its network this year. Maynard Um from UBS Investment Research wrote a note to investors that stated, "We believe a CDMA-iPhone is also in the works, though we believe Verizon Wireless and Apple may currently be apart on pricing."

Um's research points to a new iPhone release this summer, including a CDMA network compatible iPhone for Verizon or other CDMA carriers in Japan and China. Ongoing negotiations between Verizon and Apple have been rumored to be happening frequently in recent months. The release of a Qualcomm hybrid chipset that supports multiple wireless network technologies has also added to speculation.

Speculation has been rampant over a Verizon Wireless iPhone, however a simpler path for Apple to expand its iPhone market would be to offer the device to T-Mobile. Doug Reid, an analyst at Thomas Weisel, sees this move as a logical step.

Apple already offers the iPhone through Germany's T-Mobile unit (T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom). The carrier has compatible wireless technology to AT&T and wouldn't require any hardware changes to the iPhone, unlike any move to Verizon Wireless.

Qualcomm is talking to Apple about its new hybrid mobile chipsets going into future iPhones. These chips would make it possible for one iPhone to work on several different carriers, including Verizon and AT&T.

The chips are not expected to make it into the summer 2010 iPhone release, as they are too new to have been properly field tested. DigiTimes is reporting that Qualcomm is looking for a deal with Apple for "future cooperation".