Verizon iPhone "confirmed" for early 2011

The Verizon iPhone rumor has been rehashed over and over again since the device first launched in 2007. But now the Wall Street Journal insists that it is coming, and now Fortune has flat out confirmed it.

According to their sources, Verizon will begin selling their own CDMA version of the iPhone 4 in early 2011.

So if it doesn't happen this time, it is going to make a lot of reputable people look very, very bad.

If it does happen, AT&T might be the one in the doghouse. The iPhone has brought the company to new levels of profitability, but that dependence it's also cause for concern. Many of the customers currently locked into 2-year contracts will likely be anxious to make the switch down the line if Verizon's network is better able to handle the data load.

And Verizon seems pretty confident in this regard given the fact that its new tiered pricing plans continue to offer an unlimited option.