The IT Examiner reports that while Jobs is away from his spot as CEO of Apple the interim CEO is looking to free the iPhone from the grips of AT&T's notoriously spotty network. The publication cites an unnamed source that claims Apple will announce an iPhone for Verizon soon. Of course, we have been hearing that a second iPhone model will be coming soon for years, so take this rumor with two grains of salt.

The story makes a little sense though if you think about it. Apple wants to expand its user reach and to do that it needs more than one exclusive partner in each market. Verizon is one of the largest providers and has operations in many countries so giving the iPhone to them would mean availability in many parts of the world.

Apple is also said to be looking for EVDO and CDMA engineers in iPhone job postings, which could be evidence for talent needed to work with the Verizon network. Freeing the iPhone from the grips of AT&T would give the device the sort of broad availability that the Blackberry and other popular smartphones offer. With only AT&T offering the iPhone and the device still sitting at the top of the U.S. smartphone charts, what could the device do with much broader availability?

Via IT Examiner