Verizon iPhone 4G Release Soon

The report first seen on thestreet.com says that Apple and Verizon are in talks about the Verizon iPhone and likely to launch it by Christmas season 2010.

But the report so far remains unconfirmed from either Apple or Verizon. Meanwhile expectations are really high for iPhone 4G release date at WWDC 2010 though not with Verizon, according to the analysts.

In the mean time, Skype yesterday released an upgrade to its iPhone app that will allow the users to make and receive calls under AT&T’s 3G network, but the latest upgrade comes with a catch- the call making and receiving won’t be free for very long, because very soon the company will start charging for Skype-to-Skype calls or for people who have all-you-can-eat calling plans with Skype.

Although the internet telephony company has not announced specific pricing or the timeline, but the release notes of version 2.0.0 say this feature will be free only “until at least the end of August 2010, after which there will be a small monthly fee.” This upgradation became possible only after Apple changed its iPhone SDK in anticipation of its tablet device, the iPad.

On February 3, Skype had announced that calling would happen “soon,” but the company had not mentioned about the additional cost and yesterday's announcement came as a surprise for many.

Skype is known for providing calling facilities for free or at a very low rate, but the wireless minutes have become largely commoditized now and Skype’s migration from your the personal computer to mobile devices has changed the whole thing completely. It has the potential to bring in a dramatic shift in calling behavior.

Although the technology is far from reaching their but imagine when you will have the facility to receive calls from an VoIP provider like Skype on a portable device in either an WiFi or 3G network, then what role will telephone play. Talking about a little further in future: In a world with ubiquitous broadband, internet telephony, the traditional telco and wireless services would become irrelevant.

Apple's latest iPhone OS 4, which is expected to hit the marked next week, will enable non-core apps like Skype to operate in the background. This feature will allow the users to remain online with the internet telephony service all the time on any 3G enabled device like the iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad.