More Verizon iPhone Buzz, plus iPad, Apple TV Chatter

A pair of reports claim that Apple is -- for real, this time -- gearing up for a big Verizon iPhone launch in January, although the details remain maddeningly sketchy. Meanwhile, chatter continues over a revamped iPad and perhaps even an iPad junior, as well as a new Apple TV minus a hard drive and powered by iOS.

First up: the perennial Verizon iPhone rumor, which has been buzzing to one degree or another since the original iPhone went on sale more than three years ago. Checking in with top-secret info from "sources with knowledge" of Apple's manufacturing supply chain is TechCrunch, which claims that Apple has ordered "millions" of CDMA chipsets from tech giant Qualcomm for a new, Verizon-ready iPhone that would "likely" arrive in January. (Verizon's cellular network runs -- for now, anyway -- on CDMA technology, versus GSM for AT&T. Both Verizon and AT&T are set to being rolling out next-generation LTE networks in the coming months, but it will be years before LTE coverage is broadly available in the U.S.)

The TechCrunch report is echoed by Taipei-based tech site Digitimes, which predicts that "mass production" of CDMA iPhones could begin in December for delivery in January, and that Verizon could announce the new iPhone during January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Digitimes adds that the new iPhone will boast a metal back plate with an "integrated antenna" that would presumably replace the external steel antenna band on the current iPhone 4, although TechCrunch is putting its money on a "fixed internal insulator" for the existing antenna design.

Of course, we've been hearing the Apple's-working-on-CDMA-iPhones talk for months now, with the Wall Street Journal kicking off the latest barrage of rumors back in March. There's also been persistent chatter that Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T is set to expire any day now, if it hasn't already, leaving the door open for a Verizon iPhone that would take the stage (or so the new conventional wisdom goes) in January.

Then again, there's also concrete evidence that Apple's exclusivity agreement with AT&T originally stretched for five years, meaning that AT&T would have a hammerlock on the iPhone until at least 2012, barring a renegotiation of the contract (which is always a possibility).

I'm also leery of Digitimes' claim that Verizon would announce the iPhone at CES 2011 -- a move that would seem highly unlikely, given that it's been more than a dozen years since Apple made an appearance at CES. Also, when was the last time Apple let another company announce a high-profile Apple product? Still a lot of question marks floating around this one.

Meanwhile, the same (somewhat questionable) Digitimes report serves up details of possible iPad refreshes in the first quarter of 2011, including a new iPad with a beefier processor (not much of a stretch there) as well as a smaller, 7-inch iPad (with the same 1026-by-768 display resolution as the current 9.7-inch model), a possibility that's been bandied about in the recent past. Who knows whether the rumors are true, but a 7-inch, Kindle-sized iPad -- one that would be smaller, lighter, and easier to hold, especially while you're out and about -- sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Last but not least, Digitimes throws another log on the Apple TV fire, claiming that (as Engadget predicted a few months ago) that a new, flash-storage-based Apple TV box powered by iOS -- including support for the App Store -- could enter "mass production" in December. Again, it's hard to tell whether the Apple TV revamp chatter is based on hard evidence or just wishful thinking, but a new, cheaper Apple TV that support apps like, say, Pandora, Netflix, and Hulu Plus sounds like an excellent plan.

So, do you think an iPhone for Verizon is in the cards this January? Like the idea of a smaller, 7-inch iPad, or a cheap, hard drive-less Apple TV that supports apps?