More Evidence the iPhone Will Hit Verizon in January [REPORT]

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The report comes from TechCrunch contributor Steve Cheney, who says that the chipsets are due in December, implying a January launch for the Verizon device. This follows a rumor from seven months ago that Qualcomm had landed a deal to provide Apple with chips.

You might also recall that AT&T dedicated a significant portion of its recent SEC filing to assurances that it would be a-okay without U.S. iPhone exclusivity, a probable sign that the carrier is expecting to lose said exclusivity before the original 5-year deal runs its course.

TechCrunch doesn't disclose any details about its sources for this rumor; it describes them only as "sources with knowledge of this entire situation," a reference to the long chain of manufacturers from Apple on down through Qualcomm and other component-makers.

The January release date was supported by an earlier, less-specific report from Bloomberg about a coming Verizon iPhone. Some surveys have predicted that as many as half of Verizon's current customers will abandon their current phones for the iPhone if it becomes available to them.