TechCrunch is saying that Apple has submitted orders for millions of units of Qualcomm CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone run due in December. This production run would likely be for a January launch, and the phone is nearly 100% consistent with the current iPhone 4, with bug and antenna fixes of course.
Other evidence from an SEC filing from AT&T on June 30th suggests that the company hopes to rely on other handset sales to keep their customer base and thrive in a killer competitive market:
In addition, offering a number of attractive handsets on an exclusive basis distinguishes us from our competitors. As these exclusivity arrangements end, we expect to continue to offer such handsets (based on historical industry practice), and we believe our service plan offerings will help to retain our customers by providing incentives not to move to a new carrier.
The only device that AT&T has exclusivity on, that would be worth mentioning in an SEC filing, is the iPhone.
