After seeing more rumors than we care to count, we can finally lay this one to rest: the iPhone is officially coming to Verizon. The popular handset line has only been available through AT&T in the US since its initial debut in 2007, but that exclusivity pact has apparently expired. Verizon will begin selling the iPhone 4 on Thursday, February 10 and existing Verizon Wireless customers will have the opportunity to pre-order the handset online starting February 3.
Pricing for the iPhone 4 appears to be identical to AT&T. When paired with a two-year service contract, the 16GB model will cost $199.99 and the 32GB version will be $299.99. We're not sure if Verizon will introduce a new data plan with the iPhone 4, but existing data packages start at $15 for 150MB of transfer or $29.99 for unlimited. By comparison, AT&T charges $15 for 200MB and $25 for 2GB, but the provider axed its unlimited plan option last year.
Apple has tweaked the antenna location and removed the SIM slot for the CDMA iPhone 4, but things seem mostly unchanged feature-wise from the GSM version. It's worth noting that the mute and volume controls have been moved down slightly, so some of the current iPhone 4 cases might not fit properly. The Verizon iPhone 4 has a newer version of iOS (4.2.5) with a "Personal Hotspot" option, but it's unclear whether this is exclusive to the CDMA model.