Edible Apple

Qualcomm yesterday put up an interesting job posting on its career board looking for an “iPhone Developer Guru.” The job description cryptically reads:

The iPhone has no secret for you? Well, that’s what you think… join us and develop the most challenging product of your life!

You are driven by a very strict development discipline, well versed in Agile, and your passion is to bring product in the hands of consumers. You have been exposed to application or game development on mobile for years and you have developed deployed apps on the iPhone. Join us now: we are small fast moving team working in a lab 24hrs/day!

Well isn’t that some curious timing. Qualcomm happens to design the CDMA chipset currently used by Verizon, and whadya know, rumors of the iPhone hitting Verizon have been popping up with greater frequency these days, and not to mention from more reliable sources. Most recently, a number of reports have indicated that we’ll see a CDMA capable iPhone on Verizon hit store shelves in early 2011.

Interestingly, AppleInsider notes that Qualcomm, in addition to developing chipsets, basestations and the like, also works closely with various companies to ensure that mobile platforms are are appropriately tweaked for Qualcomm’s chipset to ensure optimal performance.

With an overt interest in ensuring that mobile software runs smoothly on its hardware, Qualcomm’s sudden job listing for an iPhone guru is particularly suggestive, especially in light of all the iPhone/Verizon rumors that continue to sprout up.

Truth be told, Apple reportedly already has CDMA capable iPhones in its labs for testing purposes. A few weeks ago, well-connected Apple blogger John Gruber wrote:

But I do know that engineering-wise, the wheels are turning on N92, the CDMA variant of the iPhone 4. It’s certainly not in production yet, and hasn’t reached DVT status (device verification test — like Gray Powell’s infamous stolen unit), but it is, a few little birdies claim, at EVT (engineering verification test). That’s one step below DVT, which is one step below production. So it’s right about where you’d think it would be if it were scheduled to go on sale in January. The CDMA iPhone is no longer a cold storage, keep-it-alive-just-in-case-we-need-it project.

Also of note are speculative reports that Verizon has begun upgrading its CDMA network to concurrently handle voice and data connections, a feature which Apple has touted in ads targeting Verizon.

With all of the problems associated with AT&T, the iPhone hitting Verizon has undoubtedly been on Apple’s radar for sometime now. And with this current job listing from Qualcomm, we have yet another piece of evidence hinting at the end of AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity.