Apple Inc. on Tuesday announced that a version of its iPhone 4 will be available on the network of Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the United States.
So far AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier to offer iPhone, and the deal with Verizon Wireless is expected to boost the sales of the device.
According to a press release from Apple, iPhone 4 will be available on the Verizon Wireless network beginning on Feb. 10 for a suggested retail price of 199.99 U.S. dollars for the 16GB model and 299.99 dollars for the 32GB model with a two-year customer agreement.
"Verizon Wireless customers have told us they can't wait to get their hands on iPhone 4, and we think they are going to love it," the press release quoted Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook as saying.
"We have enormous respect for the company Verizon has built and the loyalty they have earned from their customers," Cook added.
Rumors have circulated since mid-2009 that Apple would offer iPhones that work with the Verizon network, which uses CDMA technology.
The addition of Verizon as a carrier will "sound the starting gun" for worldwide shipments of the CDMA version of iPhone, helping boost the total sales of the smartphone by 25 percent to 61.2 million units in 2011, market research firm IHS iSuppli said in a report released on Tuesday.
Apple is expected to ship 12.1 million CDMA iPhones through Verizon and other global CDMA wireless carriers this year, IHS iSuppli predicted.
"The arrival of a CDMA version and the addition of Verizon as a carrier will significantly boost the available market for Apple's iPhone," IHS iSuppli's analyst Tina Teng said in a statement, noting that U.S. customers "long have been clamoring for an alternative to AT&T."