Eric Mendes' Official Blog

It’s simply amazing how much hype Apple products can generate. As much as I love Apple, the hype machine isn’t my cup of tea. It’s great for Apple, but it really just turns me off when everywhere I look, the same articles are popping up. I’m pretty sure, remote villages in Africa and Asia have already heard about the Verizon iPhone 4. The most interesting thing though is that Apple didn’t drum up this hype. Very interesting.

The announcement was made at a Verizon event in New York, AND Steve Jobs didn’t bother to make the trip. If you’re familiar with Apple product announcements (and you are), you would know that it is unheard of. Shesh, Steve could have at least FaceTimed into the event (Yes, I’m coining that verb use) and/or had Gray Powell leave the Verizon iPhone 4 in a bar in Manhattan somewhere (Side note: This would have been THE best way to give Gizmodo their invite to the event! Which they never received) Just do something, that doesn’t make me think you couldn’t care less about the event and that you have something better planned to kick off the summer.

Other than the No Show Jobs pulled, the most interesting aspect of the announcement is the lack of LTE. Verizon has been pushing their LTE network hard these past couple of weeks, and have already announced several Android phones and tablets that utilize the network. This isn’t surprising considering the original iPhone launched without 3G, but what makes it more interesting is the fact that AT&T has announced that their LTE network is set to rollout “midyear”. Interesting. Do you know what else is usually annonuced in the middle of the year? New iPhones. I think there’s little doubt that Apple will launch their next iPhone in the June/July schedule. Also, it isn’t hard to predict that this next iPhone will be the flagship device for AT&T’s 4G LTE network. (iPhone 4G?!).

What potential early adopting Verizon iPhone 4 customers should keep in mind is that, Apple just might release an iPhone with support for LTE in the summer and this version might just be the world phone everyone is hoping for. LTE support means the phone can run on both AT&T AND Verizon networks. Not to mention, all the new features the next iPhone will be touting. Talk about buyer’s remorse.

Either way, it’s going to be an interesting year. Does anyone seriously think Apple will continue to have two different major launches of iPhones during the course of a year – One for Verizon & one for AT&T? That’s highly unlikely considering Steve Jobs didn’t even show up for the coming out party.

UPDATE: 1/12/10 - Seems like tech blog supreme, Gizmodo, agrees with me: Don’t Buy the Verizon iPhone 4. Cheers!