Wall Street Journal Reports Verizon iPhone in the Works

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is working on two new iPhone models, one of which will be compatible with Verizon's CDMA network, for release this year.

According to the article, the two iPhone models will be produced by different manufacturers:

The people briefed on the matter said one of the new iPhones is being manufactured by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which produced Apple's previous iPhones. The model that has CDMA capability, used by Verizon Wireless, is being manufactured by Pegatron Technology Corp., the contract manufacturing subsidiary of Taiwan's ASUSTeK Computer Inc., said these people.

The new GSM version would be released this summer while the CDMA model for Verizon would not go into production until September.

There has been much speculation about how much longer the iPhone will remain exclusively with AT&T in the U.S. A report earlier this year indicated that the exclusivity deal would end in 2010 and that AT&T was seeking to extend it.

Verizon is the largest cellular service provider in the U.S. with over 91 million subscribers. Reports earlier this year indicated that Verizon was in talks with Apple to gain access to the iPhone and the iPad, though no official news resulted. Verizon also purportedly claimed that its network is already ready for the iPhone and the associated network traffic it would bring.