Verizon's iPhone Nears CompletionVerizon's iPhone Nears Completion

Apple's iPhone may be close to the final build in preparation for its launch on Verizon's network in early 2011. The hardware appears to be done and the software is just receiving minor finishing touches. The iPhone 5 is also making progress.Boy Genius Report is reporting that the iPhone intended for Verizon's network, called the iPhone 3,2 internally, has hit the "AP" testing stage, which means the hardware is finished and the software is close. What is interesting though is the phone has a SIM card slot.

Phones on Verizon's CDMA network don't use a SIM card like their GSM counterparts do on T-Mobile's or AT&T's network. There are a few options here. Some Verizon phones, so-called World phones, do have a SIM card slot that allows the owner to travel to Europe and other locales that only have GSM networks. That is the most likely explanation in my opinion. Verizon wouldn't want to sell a phone like the iPhone and restrict its usage to the US shores.

Hopefully Apple did a bit of redesign work on the antenna to prevent the death grip.

The article also indicates the iPhone 5 has entered the "EVT" stage of development, which is engineering verification.

The iPhone has had a good run in its current form, which is basically a mini-tablet. Its competition though has phones in a number of form factors, without sacrificing the big touch screen. At some point, Apple will need to branch out and create a second form factor that includes a slide-out keyboard. Could the iPhone 5, which will likely be released in the early summer of 2011, have a version with a keyboard?