Verizon iPhone 4: Available February 10 for $199

This morning Verizon officially and formally announced the availability of the iPhone on their Verizon Wireless network. "Today we're partnering with a giant of the industry, and that's Apple." At a special press event dedicated to the announcement, the company said that they've been working with Apple for two years, the last of which was spent testing a CDMA version of the iPhone to ensure that it would perform as expected on the Verizon network. The Verizon iPhone 4 will launch on February 10th (pre-orders for existing Verizon Wireless customers start on February 3rd,) and it will cost the same $199 that AT&T charges, with two-year contract.

One significant difference that Verizon is offering that AT&T doesn't--the Verizon iPhone 4 will act as a mobile hotspot, allowing up to five devices to tether to the phone over Wi-Fi to use its data connection.