Shammo: Next Verizon iPhone will be world Phone and released at the same time as AT&T's

Seth Weintraub | May 19 2011 - 11:50 am PT

Last Month, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo told an investor conference call that the Verizon iPhone would be a World phone. The CFO was also the first to reveal the Verizon iPad. Many think that the current Verizon iPhone’s inclusion of a worldphone-capable Gobi chip from Qualcomm is a preview into the future of the iPhone line.

Again, today Shammo told the Reuters Global Technology Summit a bit more:

While Verizon has sold fewer iPhones than some analysts expected, Shammo said he was happy with sales of the “six-month-old phone” that only works in some countries.

When the next iPhone model launches Verizon will be able to offer it at the same time as AT&T. Verizon’s version will also work in as many countries as AT&T’s iPhone, which has global coverage, Shammo said.

Some customers held off on buying the first Verizon iPhone because they were waiting for a model that supports Verizon’s high-speed wireless service, which runs on a new technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Shammo said that even if the next iPhone does not support LTE, Verizon will have enough high-speed alternatives to sell.

That’s a pretty good clue that the next iPhone won’t be LTE, which Apple CFO Tim Cook all but revealed himself at the last earnings call:

Tim Cook said that these early generation LTE chips would require too many compromises in design, and that the Apple is very happy with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. This says to me that a 4G enabled iPhone won’t be with us for a few years yet.

He also, on a more positive noted, stated that Apple is working towards bringing the iPhone to more carriers. So, could we see a T-mobile or Sprint iPhone some time soon?