• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, October 7, 2010 12:23 PM

We know (!) you've heard this one before, but sources tell The Wall Street Journal that Apple will release an iPhone for Verizon Wireless customers early next year. According to The Journal, mounting competition from Google and its Android mobile operating system has inspired Apple to finally break its exclusive carrier relationship with AT&T.

Indeed, "While Apple is on track to sell 40 million iPhones across the globe this year, the touchscreen handset is facing pressure in the U.S. from phones running Google's Android software, which have been heavily promoted by Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. carrier by subscribers." What happen if and when AT&T's iPhone-exclusivity expires, and Apple starts selling the device through Verizon? Nearly 17% of Verizon's customers would upgrade to an iPhone, according to a recent research note from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, citing an Alphawise U.S. consumer iPhone survey. If survey takers stick to their word, Verizon would stand to sell between seven million to eight million iPhones annually. Stateside, Android smartphone subscribers exceeded 10 million in August, from 866,000 a year earlier, according to comScore, while there were 13.5 million iPhone subscribers at the end of August -- up from 7.8 million last year.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »