Behind Your Business

Verizon Wireless hopes to debut its first 4G smartphone in the middle of next year, months earlier than planned, a company executive revealed Wednesday. The new handset will debut about three to six months after its Long-Term Evolution network launches, Verizon Wireless CTO Anthony Melone told The Wall Street Journal.

That timetable suggests Verizon sees 4G as a significant way to outpace its leading rival, AT&T.

"With AT&T's timetable for 2012 or 2013 and Verizon still on track for next year, that shows a pretty big head start for Big Red," said Ramon Llamas, mobile-devices senior analyst for IDC Research.

Data Cards First

Verizon's LTE will be available to some 4G users via laptop cards before the phones debut, Melone told the Journal. Verizon has reportedly been testing 4G coverage in Boston and Seattle, and LTE is planed for 10 to 30 U.S. markets by the end of next year, an area that includes 100 million people.

In December, Verizon promised that LTE's capabilities "will be unmatched in the marketplace, allowing customers to do things never before possible in a wireless environment" with average data rates per user of five to 12 Mbps for download and two to five Mbps for upload.

That would top the existing 4G network operated by Sprint Nextel, which boasts of 2.4-Mbps downloads and 153-Kbps uploads.

"If you look at Verizon's position on LTE, they are not just planning for smartphones but for other consumer electronics devices," Llamas said. "The usual evolution of things is that when you come out with a faster network, you go to data cards first and then to mobile phones."

AT&T is moving more deliberately to the next generation. The company's CEO, Randall Stephenson, recently told a technology investors' conference, "We're not in a tremendous hurry on LTE," but will instead rely on current technology for...