• Wall Street Journal et al., Tuesday, March 30, 2010 12:59 PM

Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple will challenge its myriad rivals -- from Google to RIM -- with a Verizon-supported iPhone. "Apple Inc. plans to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U.S. phone carriers other than AT&T Inc. to sell the iconic gadget," reports The Journal.

Yet, "We've heard tons of rumors about 4G Verizon iPhones and incorrect predictions of when Apple would drop AT&T-iPhone exclusivity, and the result is that the iPhone is still only on the AT&T network in the U.S.," writes Mashable.

Says Fast Company: "That old faithful iPhone rumor, about a Verizon CDMA version of Apple's wonderphone, has surfaced again, to the delight of AT&T iPhone users and wanna-haves."

Fast Company has speculated in the past that Apple uses the WSJ as "a deliberately leaky news valve." Yet, "The actual published story says little more than, 'There's a new iPhone coming in the middle of 2010, and it'll be better than its predecessors.'"

According to The Journal: "Apple Inc. is developing a new iPhone to debut this summer and also appears to be working on a model for U.S. mobile phone operator Verizon Wireless."

Still, "There's a big difference between 'is' and 'appears to be,'" notes Darling Fireball. "And [The Journal] have no actual details of the next-generation iPhone. Nothing."

According to most analysts, however, such a deal can't come too soon. "Analysts in Apple's most recent earnings call referenced 'a lot of bad press here recently' over the deal with AT&T and how it was affecting Apple's brand," writes the WSJ's Digits.

What's more, "Verizon certainly seems a likely candidate, as the carrier would immediately give Apple access to about 80 million new customers," writes Digital Daily. "But rumors of an Apple-Verizon deal for the iPhone and the iPad have been circulating for quite some time and none have ever panned out."

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal et al. »