Blunder: Verizon pulls white-iPhone pic

We didn't dream that Verizon advertised the white iPhone on its site this morning, but Big Red has erased the evidence.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations

Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).

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Jessica Dolcourt

Jan. 11, 2011 11:25 a.m. PT

2 min read

White iPhone 4 for Verizon — Now it's here, now it's gone. Verizon Wireless

While the announcement of the Verizon iPhone 4 may be "magical" for some, there was one sleight of hand nobody wanted to see. When Verizon's iPhone splash page launched on Verizon Wireless this morning, we found side-by-side images of a white and a black iPhone 4 nestled in the "Capacity and color" section of the tech specs.

Well, that got us going! Because apart from CDMA technology, newfound hot-spot capabilities, and a slightly shifted ringer/mute switch, the Verizon iPhone is pret-ty much the same old iPhone, just under a different carrier. Offering the elusive white iPhone (which was delayed again and again for AT&T) would certainly give Verizon a leg up.

However, check the Verizon iPhone site now and you'll see no such coveted albino handset. Nope, Big Red's marketing team seems to have pulled that pretty picture around the same time it confirmed for us that it will not be offering a white iPhone next month at launch.

That's not the only uh-oh. CNET also noticed that Verizon listed the iPhone's GSM specs instead of technical details for its CDMA version. Both these errors appear to be sloppy cut-and-paste executions that control-freak Apple would have never committed. Verizon was not immediately available for comment on the apparent miscommunication behind the scenes.

Verizon did tell CNET, though, that the white iPhone will touch down in "spring" of this year, the same time frame as for the GSM iPhones coming to rival carrier AT&T.

Apple took a big risk breaking out of its comfort zone to let Verizon host the mega-announcement on the carrier's terms--in New York rather than San Francisco, and under its own control, not Apple's. It's fair to question whether head honcho Steve Jobs is content with the way Verizon handled all aspects of the launch--including giving potential Verizon customers a colorful dose of false hope.

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