No, they’re not.
What IS happening is that Verizon is finally dumping CDMA and joining the rest of the universe with 4G and LTE.
At that point, phones will then be able to compete between carriers on an even footing. The US is the only country that still uses CDMA on a wide basis, everyone else in the world (plus ATT and TMobile) uses GSM for 3G and will be going to or already has LTE for 4G.
I have a VERY good inside source that tells me otherwise....They tell me that Verizon is in fact getting the iPhone....Nothing formally announced as of yet, just rumours....and that’s the way they have planned it....I guess us Verizon users will have to just wait....AT&T service is terrible in my area....My source says that this is not something new that has just came up, it has actually been in the works for quite some time....