Apple’s  iPhone coming to Verizon Wireless in early 2011 has been confirmed again—this time by Fortune. Besides the majority of the blogsphere agreeing that the coveted CDMA iPhone for Verizon will be here soon, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune , and the New York Times are all in agreement. Verizon is finally getting the iPhone.

Verizon was first offered to be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone but rejected it and Apple’s demands. AT&T snatched it up and the rest is history. Strong iPhone sales have helped launch the smartphone era and powerful competitors such as Google’s Android OS have emerged. Now our smartphones are zipping along on with processors in the 1 GHz range and touchscreens that put some laptops to shame in the picture quality department.

Apple is currently producing at least two iPhone models in the next 6 months. A CDMA compatible iPhone 4 will be produced for Verizon and possibly other carriers. The iPhone 5 is also being developed and has been speculated to be a ‘world phone’ with both CDMA and GSM cellular compatibility for international travelers. The newer model is also rumored to incorporate near field communications (NFC) technology with applications in retail and wireless payment options.

Sources inside European carriers are claiming that Apple is planning on building locked, proprietary SIM cards for use in the iPhone according to GigaOM. These locked iPhones would be sold in Europe to customers directly through Apple, bypassing carriers. Apple would allow customers to purchase the iPhone first and then lock it into any network they choose with a contract. The SIM card would then lock the phone into that network until the end of the contract. iTunes would presumably be involved in the process and customers could perform the activation process from their home computers.

This news builds on the anticipated launch of the iPad 2 sometime early next year. Investment firm Detweiler Fenton has added a degree of confirmation to the rumor that the iPad 2 will have front and rear cameras for FaceTime video calling. The rear camera is expected to be a 5 megapixel and a 0.3 megapixel, VGA video camera is thought to face the user in the front. Apple’s iPhone 4 has FaceTime as does the new iPod touch 4. The company is working on a way to allow FaceTime users on iOS to call desktop PC users and a beta version has already been seen in action.

Excited about the iPhone coming to Verizon? This a done deal or are we going to get a major, major disappointment? Let me know.