Analysts are contributing in tandem to the rumor mill today by proclaiming the inevitability of a Verizon Wireless-branded iPhone. First is Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital, who says a Verizon Wireless iPhone could enter production in Q4 2010 and land in the first calendar quarter of 2011. Reitzes estimates that Verizon could sell as many as 9 million iPhones next year and anticipates a market in Asia for this CDMA variant of the iPhone 4. Not alone in the latest chapter of this seeming endless rumor, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig points to the success of the iPhone in unlocked markets as an important factor in bringing Apple and Verizon Wireless together at last. With the iPhone on the nation’s largest carrier, Craig predicts Apple could sell an additional 8 million handsets in FY 2011. So what do you think — will the allure of selling an additional 8-9 million handsets be enough to finally make Apple and Verizon Wireless work together to make the CDMA iPhone a reality?
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