Verizon iPhone 4 Arrival: 3 Reasons It's Such a Big Deal

On Thursday, Verizon will start taking orders for the iPhone 4 from customers not on its network.

With so much written over the deal between Apple and Verizon, it can be tempting to believe that the union of the two companies has been vastly overblown, but Surge Desk runs down the main reasons the Verizon iPhone is poised to reshape the smart phone landscape in lasting ways.

1. Sales
While Apple is not exactly hurting for cash these days, the CDMA-compatible version of the iPhone will represent a major financial boost for both Apple and Verizon. Within two hours of becoming available to Verizon's existing customers, the iPhone had sold out. When the dust settled, Verizon had taken a record 500,000 orders for the phone on day one. More evidence of how well the phone will sell? A recent survey found that half of all Verizon smart phone users planned to switch to the iPhone. With Sprint and T-Mobile chomping at the bit to get their own iPhones, Apple is poised to retake its place as the leading smart phone maker in the world.

2. Network reliability
Early reviews of the Verizon iPhone have been nearly unanimous in noting that fewer calls are being dropped than on AT&T's model and that overall clarity is far superior. While the iPhone almost single handedly taught the world to view cell phones as so much more than just a calling device, the need to have an actual voice conversation from time to time has never really gone away.

3. Competition
Until now AT&T's stranglehold (not to be confused with a "death grip") over the iPhone has resulted in a slower pace of innovation. With Verizon including a hot spot feature on the iPhone, AT&T is already announcing that it will follow suit, making the device its own Wi-Fi enabler for nearby laptops and iPads. With the two companies competing for iPhone customers, they will have to try and entice potential buyers with differing offers, features and pricing structures.

More Apple coverage from Surge Desk:
Apple Sells 10 Billion Apps
The Verizon iPhone: What You Need to Know
Mac App Store: 3 Problems With Apple's Latest Juggernaut
iPad Tops DVD Players for Fastest-Ever Adoption Rate
Apple Valued at 6 Times the Estimated Worth of Facebook

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