A rumour states Verizon is set to announce and launch the first LTE iPhone right after Christmas

We have an absolutely brilliant rumour about some of our favourite topics - the iPhone 4 to Verizon, LTE, Steve Jobs being angry and upset and, of course, Christmas. That's because a source "believed to be familiar with the matter" has shed light on all these things, so let's see what we have here.

First of all, the rumour states that the Verizon iPhone 4 has been ready for quite some time and Verizon even held a management training for iPhone sales last week. The only reason the device is not already released is because AT&T wants to maximize its iPhone 4 Christmas sales and that's why the Verizon iPhone 4 is set to be announced and launched "right after Christmas." Somewhat unsurprisingly, Big Red is set to market the handset as "the only LTE iPhone", while security measures to keep this info away from the public are rumoured to be draconian.

Here is the original leak:

• Verizon held management training for iPhone sales last week;
• Verizon had functioning iPhones (LTE-capable) in management hands for the training sessions;
• The formal announcement of the iPhones Verizon debut is coming right after Christmas; "Apparently ATT's final demand so as to maximize ATT's Christmas iPhone sales"
• The Verizon iPhone will be immediately available upon formal announcement;
• Device has been "100% cooked for quite a while" and already shipping in bulk to Verizon warehouses;
• The Verizon iPhone is not being shipped to any 3rd-party retailers in an effort to control leaks;
• Verizon agreed to take 100% responsibility for security, so all the devices will be in their hands until the official announcement date, and they will then distribute thru channels in massive manner (hence early stockpiling);
• The new iPhone is an LTE device and that fact - the only "LTE iPhone," exclusive to Verizon - will be the main marketing theme; i.e. "For the new '4G' (cough) verizon network" that Verizon has already started promoting;
• As rollout of LTE not actually widepsread, Verizon iPhone will have multi-band chip backward compatibility with regular CDMA;
• iPhone 5 was planned to debut in summer as LTE-only, for all contracted carriers, but the clock is ticking and nobody thinks either Verizon or AT&T can get to critical mass to offer an LTE-only version;
• Steve Jobs is said to be upset that carriers cannot seem to get their LTE act together more quickly;
• Apple is "helping" U.S. carriers (money?) to build out LTE more quickly.

To be honest, we can't verify the information, so all we can say is "that better be true." Stay tuned for more on the subject, but in the meantime, tell us what you make of this rumour.

source: MacDailyNews via RedmondPie