So you’ve probably heard the rumor by now that the iPhone might go to Verizon once Apple’s exclusivity contract with AT&T expires later this year. A lot of people were disappointed that Steve Jobs didn’t say one word about the iPhone during the iPad event on Jan. 27, 2010. While discussing rate plans for data support for the iPad he said that it would only be available on AT&T. This led people to believe that there will never be a Verizon iPhone.

So here are my thoughts:

Verizon will get the iPhone sometime in Q3 of 2010. That announcement will probably not be made until June. Announcing a Q3 release Verizon iPhone would be a really bad move for Apple at this time. Many iPhone users love their phone but are not satisfied with AT&T’s lack up data network support. So if a Verizon iPhone was announced in January, iPhone sales would plummet until the Verizon iPhone were released. This wouldn’t make for a good Q1 or Q2 for Apple.

There is also some talk that Apple is waiting for Verizon to roll out its much anticipated LTE network which will commonly be referred to as 4G. This transition from the current CDMA network to the new LTE network will of course take some time. I’m not exactly sure if the iPhone which will eventually go to Verizon will first be a CDMA compatible iPhone or if Apple will wait to release a LTE iPhone on Verizon.

So just because Steve Jobs kept on topic with the iPad on Jan. 27th… doesn’t mean that the iPhone is never coming to Verizon. All previous versions of the iPhone were announced in June. There is no reason to suspect otherwise for the 4G iPhone.

That’s the way I see it… I could be wrong.

Gbrenna.com has a new look! I’m rockin’ a beta test release of John Saddington’s Standard Theme. If you’ve been following my blog for the past year you know that we have been through a number of different themes (most of them John’s). I really like the simplicity of this one. It’s also very customizable on the back end. I’m not all that good with editing CSS or anything like that, I’m thinking I need to take a class or two at some point, but I know enough to be dangerous. So you might see some minor adjustments here and there in the next month or so.

By now you’ve probably noticed my tagline: “TAGLINES ARE OVERRATED”. I don’t really believe that, I believe they have their place… I’m open to suggestions.

What do you think of the new look?

The Pope is asking priests to become more web savvy! So what does that mean? Is he going to be issuing iPhones to all the Catholic Priests? Well maybe not… but it looks like he’s suggesting something like that.

In his message for the Catholic Church’s 2010 World Day for Social Communications he told people people that church communities have traditionally relied on modern media to open the lines of communication. And as the culture changes, the church needs to use the latest technologies, especially if it wants to reach younger people.

- Lance Whitney

This is a pretty big step for the Catholic church as well as for Christians of every denomination. For the Catholic church, a church that is thought to be deeply rooted in tradition and older ways of thinking, to see the Pope suggest the use of modern media as a form of communication to reach the younger generation is a really big thing!

“Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, Web sites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization, and catechesis,” said Pope Benedict in his message

He went on to say that,

“Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ,” said Pope Benedict. “This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a ‘soul’ to the fabric of communications that makes up the Web.”

I think that this is the most important thing that everybody who is using the web for ministry needs to keep in mind. That we can be incredible programmers and the best code writers but unless we have a closeness to Christ… we won’t really be ministering God’s word, we’re just ministering our own words. This is something that I struggle with all the time and I’m intentionally trying to do a better job of staying Christ the center point in my life. As church workers our primary job, no matter what our position in the church is, is to bring people closer to Christ. Everything else is secondary to that.

[Image by: The Vatican]