It’s HERE!. Oh wait, it’s not. OMG the iPhone is coming to Verizon! Uhm, oops, it’s not.
Again and again and again this is what we have been hearing since shortly after the iPhone was first introduced. Every few months there is a small rumor about the iPhone coming to Verizon and then BAM! It is on every blog and even crossing into the mainstream media… as if it were true.
It happened just the other day.
Elana was listening to the news and called down to me saying “Just heard on the radio that the iPad was delayed until April 12.” I replied, “No that’s wrong”. Elana said, “No they said it twice. iPad delayed until the 12th.” I laughed, “Not quite! New orders won’t ship until the 12th. They got it wrong… like the game of telephone… they started with the facts but by the time it got to them the “new” as gone and it just said “iPad shipping April 12th. Heck, Larry had it posted this morning… before anyone else I think… NEW orders delayed!”
Truth be told, it kinda bothers me when this happens. Bloggers have a hard enough time trying to get people to take them seriously. Many of us are enthusiasts who do this as a hobby (a time-consuming demanding hobby at that) but try hard to respect boundaries, only report facts that are… well facts and offer well-thought out opinion pieces. Then a rumor like the “Verizon is getting the iPhone” starts again and it takes off like wildfire. It goes everywhere. It even makes it to my “why do I need to carry a cellphone” father-in-law who, instead of saying hello when I saw him last night opened with “So I hear Verizon is getting the iPhone”. BAM!!! All credibility shot.
Look, it makes sense that at some point Verizon WILL get the iPhone. Apple needs to release it on another network at some point if they want to continue to have the phone grow in the US. But it won’t happen until Apple decides to make the move and we won’t know about it until they decide to tell us. Everything else that comes out is nonsense. (And I suspect even the people posting the “information” know it… They just want the traffic.
So imagine how refreshing it was to com across a thoughtful post on the subject. Over on TechCrunch MG Siegler makes the case against Apple releasing the iPhone on Verizon. He also cites what he suspect, and I agree, will be the main factor determining WHEN Apple makes the move…
THE BOTTOM LINE: It is a good read for anyone interested in the iPhone. Read it… Then you too can explain to your father-in-law that it is just a rumor… for now.