It’s Official: The iPhone 4 Comes To Verizon In Early February

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After years of speculation, Verizon announced it will carry the iPhone during a special press conference in New York City. In early February, the company will offer the the iPhone 4 to its customers. It will run on Verizon’s 3G network, despite the company’s recent extensive marketing campaign for its 4G LTE network.

“If the press writes something long enough and hard enough, eventually it comes true,” Verizon CEO Dan Mead told the room. “Today two industry innovators are coming together to provide something customers have been hungry for for years.” Existing Verizon customers will be able to pre-order the iPhone 4 on Feb. 3, with in-store and online orders opening up to everyone on Feb. 10. The 16GB iPhone 4 will cost $199 and the 32GB will cost $299. (More on Time.com: Verizon’s iPhone: A Marriage Years in the Making)

Shushing those who doubt Verizon’s network would be able to support the volume of iPhone users, Mead talked at length about the investments the company has made into its infrastructure, calling it “future proof.” He also made swipes at competitors’ 4G networks saying, “With all of the re-branding going on, we debated over calling this 6G LTE, but it’s not in our DNA, so we’ll stick with 4G for now.” If anything, Verizon wants you to know its iPhone will be supported by a faster, reliable network. Even with more 4G touting, the two companies made no announcements on iPhone/Verizon 4G plans, with Apple’s COO Tim Cook noting that “the first generation LTE chip sets force some design compromises, some of which we would not make.”

The talks started in 2008, Mead said, noting that they’ve been testing the device for about a year before they began to carry the iPad, the iPhone’s “magical” sibling. “We have been talking to Verizon for a while,” Cook told the room. “This is just the beginning of a great relationship between Apple and Verizon.”

Mead also said Verizon would make no announcements on network/data pricing, but noted that the company would make a “strong offer” to customers soon.

We’ll bring you more details on the announcement as they develop.

More on Time.com:

What Can We Expect From A Verizon iPhone?

Apple’s Hits and Misses So Far

Consumer Electronics Show: 11 Tech Trends for 2011