Rumor: Verizon's 2007 road map?
Samsung U900
(Credit: Phone Arena)Remember back when Verizon Wireless COO Jack Plating scoffed at the iPhone in a company memo, calling it the "iWhatever"?
Yeah, we all chuckled. Although he couldn't point to a single device that would command the attention of the Apple phone, he tried to rally his troops by saying that AT&T wouldn't be able to compete with Verizon's choice of phones.
UTStarcom XV6800
(Credit: Phone Arena)Meanwhile, gadget blog Phone Arena says it's found Verizon's road map for which products are in store for what remains of 2007. Is this likely to erase the iPhone from our collective memory? Of course not. But here's what may be coming down the pipe.
Not all of these are new rumors--Samsung Electronics' SCH-i760 showed up on the "interwebs" last month, as did a Verizon-stamped Palm Treo 755p.
RIM Blackberry Pearl
(Credit: Phone Arena)But check out what else they found: The Motorola Q9m and Q9c--CDMA versions of the Q9h--and the XV6800 and SMT5800 from UTStarcom--both with slide-out keyboards. There's also an improved from Research In Motion.
Motorola Z6c and Z6tv, both multimedia sliders, are on the list, as are clamshells from Motorola (the basic 8630), and Samsung's U410, U700 and U900 (with a 3.0-megapixel camera and, according to Phone Arena, a decent camcorder). Two LG clamshells--the VX5300 and VX8350--round out the list (literally, they both have curiously rounded edges).
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
