NEW YORK - JUNE 24: The new iPhone 4, which went on sale this morning, is displayed at the flagship Apple Store on Fifth Avenue on June 24, 2010 in New York City. People waited outside of stores overnight to be first in line when doors opened at 7 a.m. in New York and at 8 a.m. local time in Germany, Japan, France and the United Kingdom. The iPhone 4 will cost $199 for a 16-gigabyte version and $299 for a version with 32 gigabytes of storage. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Rumors of a CDMA version of the mighty iPhone are as old as the device itself. With the most recent public letdown coming back in January, when everyone expected a Verizon iPhone to be released along side the iPad. However, the magical iPad release came and went without any indication of an iPhone that would talk on big red. Just this week, an article in the Wall Street Journal has fired up the VZW iPhone rumor mill yet again.

WSJ: Apple Readies Verizon iPhone OCTOBER 7, 2010

The article says that AT&T will lose their exclusivity on the device starting in Q1 of 2011, citing their source only as “people familiar with the matter”. The VZW iPhone would resemble the current GSM iPhone 4, but with the Qualcomm manufactured internals necessary to communicate on CDMA networks. According to “these people” the new iPhone will not be quad band, meaning it will only function on CDMA networks and not GSM.

Something left entirely out of the report is the mention of Verizon’s new LTE network which will be available in select markets at the end of this year. Why would a new, flagship phone, like the iPhone not include something as important as the ability to function on Verizons new 4G network. CDMA technology is primarily used in the United States by carriers like Verizon and Sprint, the majority of the world uses GSM technology. However, as mentioned in the WSJ article, there are countries in Asia that use CDMA wireless technology. Another conclusion that could be drawn is that this new CDMA iPhone is being prepared for release in South Korea and Japan. Also, if the new iPhone is designed to be CDMA only as described it could not be used internationally by Verizon customers roaming overseas. Verizon has a number of “world phones”, including those running BlackBerry OS and Android, that are capable of roaming on GSM networks. A CDMA only iPhone would not be able to compete in the business market with these already released phones.

Lastly, with the recent DROID campaigns run by Verizon and Google it would seem hypocritical to suddenly welcome the very handset that they are trying to compete with. It may be too little, too late as Verizon users have already shown that they are interested in Android powered devices, and the numbers back it up with the market share of Android devices steadily increasing each quarter.

Only time will tell with this latest VZW iPhone rumor, as expected all parties involved (Apple, Verizon, and Qualcomm) have declined to comment.