So, where's the part where you explain why it's not going to happen? AT&T had branding all over their phones before the iPhone came around, so what makes you think Verizon would be unwilling to make the same concession? As far as hardware is concerned, if they go with a combined CDMA/GSM chip, it's likely that the cost to buy the chips from the supplier will be nearly the same, or negligibly higher (~$1-2). For that price, they get access to close to half of the US cell phone market that they didn't have previously. Seems like a good deal to me. If history is any indicator, most of Apple's partners eventually concede to Apple's way of doing business (see: everything in the iTunes store).