The Verizon iPhone – Panacea for all that ails the smarthpone world? – not so fast..

Since its debut in 2007, 22 million iPhones on the AT&T network have been sold. If the anticipated release of the iPhone from Verizon comes to fruition in early 2011 as most expect, between 8 and 9 million units are expected to be sold according to Fortune Magazine.
The reason this is being hailed as the Second Coming is mostly due to the pounding AT&T took when their network was brought to  its knees when the iPhone was first launched.  Ironically, those that complained the most (the heaviest iPhone users) were part of the problem. Before you shout at me, I realize AT&T could have been better prepared.  Nonetheless, I believe it’s naive to think that Verizon’s network won’t experience strain when the iPhone becomes available through them based on the expect volume.  Verizon networks already support the Droid and according to Fortune Magazine, the average Droid user consumes more data than the average iPhone user. (There are, however, vastly fewer Droid users than iPhone users according to Fortune.)
My point is that I don’t believe that Verizon iPhone users are going to be absolutely void of similar network issues in the beginning.  I might be wrong, but if the betting tables were open, I’d sit this one out.  Once we get some equilibrium, I expect coverage and network issues will evolve into a non-differentiator between the two carriers.
CLICK HERE for the Fortune Magazine article to learn more on the evolution of the relationship between Apple and Verizon
Thanks for reading. Have a great day!
Matt
(Disclosure: Author has iPhone 4 on AT&T network and has been an AT&T customer for over ten years.)