Verizon Wireless confirmed on Thursday it will begin selling Apple’s iPhone 4S on Friday, Oct. 14. Consumers can pre-order the device beginning tomorrow at 3:01 a.m. EDT at www.verizonwireless.com/iPhone.
The company also announced that the iPhone 4 (8 GB model) is available for $99.99, and Verizon Wireless has lowered the price for the iPhone 4 (16 GB and 32 GB models).
Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless noted its iPhone 4S subscribers will be able to travel globally with the gadget, using it to talk in more than 220 countries and for data in roughly 205 countries.
Prices on the device will be $199.99 (16 GB model), $299.99 (32 GB model) and $399.99 (64 GB model) with a new, two-year contract.
Verizon Wireless said customers must buy a voice plan beginning at $39.99 for 450 minutes and a data plan beginning at $30 for 2 GB monthly access.
The iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will be available at roughly 2,200 Verizon Wireless stores nationwide, online at www.verizonwireless.com/iphone as well as by calling 1-800-2 JOIN IN.
AT&T and Sprint also have rights to sell the iPhone 4S, which Apple debuted earlier this week before the passing of its former chief executive, Steve Jobs.
In February, Verizon Wireless joined AT&T as the only other U.S. mobile operator with the rights to sell the iPhone. In the second quarter, Verizon Wireless activated 2.3 million iPhones – fewer than AT&T (3.6 million).
Verizon Wireless is the largest U.S. mobile operator with 106.3 million connections based on second-quarter results. In a research note last month, Goldman Sachs analyst Jason Armstrong forecast that the company will add 1 million postpaid subscribers in the third quarter.
Armstrong also had said he expected record U.S. iPhone activations in the fourth quarter, but that was in anticipation of AT&T, Sprint and Verizon selling an entirely new model, the "iPhone 5." As we know now following Apple's press event Tuesday debuting the iPhone 4S, there is no iPhone 5 – at least not yet.
