New York – More details are emerging about the launch of
Verizon’s iPhone, with mass-market retailer Walmart confirming that it will
offer the device in select stores on the same day that the device goes on sale
in Apple and Verizon online and brick-and-mortar stores on Feb. 10.
Best Buy declined to
confirm whether it would offer the 3G device on Feb. 10 or at all, but some
Internet reports contend the chain will pass on the Verizon iPhone because it
already offers the AT&T iPhone. Walmart, which also offers the AT&T
iPhone, didn’t comment on the number of Walmart stores that would sell the
Verizon version at launch.
When Verizon
its iPhone intentions on Jan. 11, Verizon Wireless president/CEO Dan Mead said
“certain of our key distribution partners” would get the iPhone “in a matter of
weeks” after Feb. 10.
In a related development, a Verizon spokesperson confirmed that
the carrier will offer a $29.99 unlimited-data plan for its iPhone at launch
but didn’t disclose whether any capped data plans would also be available for
use with the device. For its version of the iPhone, carrier AT&T offers a
$14.99/month 200MB data plan and a 2GB $24.99 plan for new purchasers and a
grandfathered $29.99/month unlimited-data plan for previous users.
During his Jan. 11 remarks, Verizon’s Mead said Verizon was
prepared to handle the data traffic that the iPhone will generate, having
“built margin into our capacity throughout the country.”
