Verizon to Thunder on i-Phone's Parade?

I recently attended Inman Connect in San Francisco. One of the speakers onstage at the Palace Hotel tried to pull something up on his new 3G Apple i-Phone, but had no service.

Frustrated, he lamented AT&T's poor service and compared the i-Phone to a Lambborghini running on a VW engine--and I joined the audience applause.

Why Apple tied its flagship phone to a carrier with such spotty coverage (unless you are traveling abroad) escapes me. I can't even reach a close friend just 3 miles away in Carlsbad, CA on her AT&T cell because it is outside its coverage area.

I love Apple and its products. This article is being written on an i-Mac and I lust after the 3G i-Phone, but stick with Verizon for cell service because of its unbeatable coverage. Being out of range for calls just doesn't work well for a San Diego Realtor.

It's a painful choice: Go with Apple and suffer AT&T's spotty coverage areas, or stick with Verizon and my trusted Blackberry and not have to worry about lack of service?

For professional reasons, there is no alternative but to stay with Verizon--but there may be hope on the horizon--or at least by the third quarter of this year. Research in Motion (RIMM) is coming out with the new Thunder Blackberry that will be carried exclusively by Verizon and Vodaphone.

With just four clicking keys, this black beauty will run on 3G EV-DO Rev. C as well as GSM HSPA for international use. This will apparently allow the Blackberry Thunder to operate in any country with 3G or better internet access. There are rumors that the Thunder may even be faster than the i-Phone for downloads.

Where there's thunder, there's lightning--and there may be some fireworks in the telecom biz to watch at year's end. If Research in Motion's Blackberry Thunder is as slick as I think it is, we'll probably contract with Verizon for another two years.

--Roberta Murphy