Edible Apple

Echoing a report from earlier this May, DigiTimes is reporting that Pegatron Technology has received its iPhone 4 orders from Apple and that the company is planning to deliver a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 to Apple in the fourth quarter of 2010. Sources tell DigiTimes that the phones are being manufactured at its plants in Shanghai, China, and that the company is also working to secure contracts to manufacture MacBooks and iPods.

While Apple COO Tim Cook has publicly called CDMA a dead technology, there’s no denying that Apple can only hold off a surging threat from Android for so long while stuck exclusively on AT&T. Rumors of a CDMA capable iPhone hitting Verizon have been around for quite some time now, but the signal to noise ratio seems to be getting higher as we push deeper into 2010. That said, a few analysts anticipate that the iPhone 4 will hit Verizon by November 2010, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

The first legit inkling that Apple was planning to release its next-gen iPhone on Verizon surfaced back in late March when the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had pegged Pegatron to manufacture a CDMA version of the iPhone. Also, remember that Verizon is rumored to be upgrading its cellular network with new technology which will enable phones to handle both voice and data connections at the same time. As it stands now, phones on Verizon’s CDMA network are unable to browse the web while talking on the phone, a downside Apple has spent some time pointing out in some of its more recent commercials.

Though much of the world uses the same GSM technology as AT&T, Verizon has over 91 million customers and is largely regarded as having the most reliable and most robust network here in the US. Apple’s problems with AT&T are no secret, but even those foibles aside, Apple is dead serious on facing the rising threat from Android head on. With the iPhone still currently stuck exclusively on AT&T, competitors like Motorola and HTC have free reign on the rest of the market without much competition. If Verizon truly does receive the iPhone before 2011, the smartphone market may very well morph before our eyes.