After years of rumors, reports, whispers and tea-leaf readings that Verizon would definitely, maybe, someday possibly be getting the iPhone, everyone was wondering whether the nation’s largest wireless provider would finally make the big announcement at this morning’s press conference in New York City.

“If the press writes something long enough and hard enough it comes true,” said Verizon COO Lowell McAdam at the event, where he confirmed that the iPhone 4 would be coming to Verizon in the next month.

The Verizon iPhone will have all the same features as the existing AT&T version and will run on the company’s CDMA network (which means no simultaneous web-browsing and phone-using), no mention of a timeframe for an LTE version.

This iPhone will also offer the Verizon Hotspot capability, allowing up to 5 devices to connect at a time.

Our pals at Consumer Reports got some hands-on time with the Verizon iPhone after the conference. CR also confirmed with Verizon that the antenna had been changed from the original iPhone 4, but the phone company would not comment on the signal loss issue associated with the AT&T phone’s antenna.

The device will run $199.99 for 16gb model, $299.99 for 32gb. According to the Verizon Wireless site, it will be available starting Feb. 10.

The Verizon site also says that existing VZW customers can “get an iPhone 4 from our reserved quantity before they’re available to everyone else.”

Before making the announcement, McAdam talked up Verizon’s existing networks — 3G and 4G LTE — in an attempt to preempt any concerns about the flood of new iPhone users. He later stated that Verizon has “more than enough capacity” to handle the expected uptick in usage.

Some had believed that Big V would make this announcement at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but those hopes were deflated when the company elected to use CES to push its newest 4G products — like the 4G LTE Galaxy Tab — instead.

However, speculation was stoked anew almost immediately when the Wall Street Journal reported that an announcement was imminent.

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