It's not the first time we've heard such whispers, and we're sure it won't be the last, but once again the rumor of iPhones heading to Verizon has popped up, leading to debate on the probability of the partnership.

Last fall Apple put up some job postings, looking for engineers well-versed with CDMA technology. Existing iPhone models only run on GSM networks, like AT&T's, and would be incompatible with a CDMA network like Verizon's or Sprint's. Now coming up on five months later, it's conceivable that Apple has put together a working iPhone model that uses one of these CDMA systems. Although claims of such sources should be taken with a grain of salt, unnamed Apple insiders have supposedly revealed that a Verizon iPhone "will be announced soon".

There's another side to this rumor which seems a little more likely. The LTE super-high-speed wireless technology Verizon is starting to roll out this year should work the same as the LTE network that AT&T plans to begin moving to as well. This means that, in theory at least, were Apple to release another AT&T-only iPhone, this time with support for 4G LTE speeds, an unlocked handset could be programmed to run on Verizon's network just as easily as it does on AT&T's. Admittedly, this isn't quite the same victory for Verizon fans, as it would require new hardware (which doesn't exist at this point) and would be several years down the line; we're talking 2011 at the earliest. Don't hold your breath!

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