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No, but you can act like you did. The iPhone's high resale value can cover early termination fees and possibly cost of a new handset from Verizon.

In December, I abandoned AT&T and iPhone 4, returning to T-Mobile with the Samsung-manufactured, Google-branded Nexus S. AT&T charges a $325 ETF for smartphones, which is prorated depending on number of months left on the contract. I signed up for new AT&T service is June, making my December ETF $275. That set the minimum price for which I would sell iPhone 4.

On Tuesday, one of the most fiercely demanded and most frequently rumored products was announced: the CDMA iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless. Lending credence to the long-running rumors, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam today said Apple has actually been testing iPhone on CDMA since 2008.

Most of the features of Verizon's iPhone 4 are identical to the one available on AT&T, aside from the different wireless radios. Contrary to recent rumors, it is not an LTE device, but EV-DO (rev A). 3G. Apple fans being what they are, it has already been noted that the faulty external antenna of the iPhone 4 that caused controversy in mid-2010 has been moderately redesigned with a series of notches visible in the chassis.

Microsoft picked a helluva day to make its official Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 announcement -- what with techdom obsessed with the Verizon iPhone. But it's a brave lot of product managers up there in Redmond, Wash., or perhaps employees can't see past the benefits of their free Windows Phone 7 handsets. Whatever, this morning, Microsoft announced that Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 will be available through volume-licensing channels starting in March and from OEMs sometime in second quarter.

Here's the deal: Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 volume-license subscribers get the new version for free. "If customers want to purchase MultiPoint Server today, they simply need to purchase with SA in order to have the rights to MultiPoint Server 2011 upon availability," writes Dean Paron in a Microsoft blog post. Software Assurance customers can get the newer version in March.

It's the question of the morning, now that Verizon has announced iPhone 4 is coming to its network. Verizon made the announcement just after 11 am ET at a press briefing in New York -- a venue that is sure to please Wall Street analysts and investors. But for all the rumors and speculation and now answers to if or when the real question is: Will you buy Verizon iPhone? Would you switch from another carrier for Verizon iPhone? More significantly, would you give up iPhone on AT&T to get it? Please answer in comments or e-mail joewilcox at gmail.com.

The questions are relevant, even though the phone won't be available for some time. Existing Verizon customers can preorder on February 3 and everyone else on February 10. Verizon's iPhone 4 will cost pennies more than AT&T's -- $199.99 for 16GB model and $299.99 for 32GB model, subsidized with two-year contractual commitment. But there's an extra bonus: Mobile hotspot for up to five devices.

The US Patent and Trademark Office awarded IBM an average 16 patents per day in 2010, for a total 5,896. Second-ranked Samsung received 12.5 patents per day, or 4,551 for the year. Not be left out, Microsoft's daily average was 8.5, or 3,094 last year. So, the three companies awarded the most patents, all from the tech sector, received 13,541 patents, or 37 per day. But wait! There are only 261 days in a typical working year, making the per-day totals for IBM, Samsung and Microsoft much higher: 22.6, 17.4 and 11.8, respectively.

Utility patent awards rose 31 percent year over year to 219,614 (according to IFI Claims Patent Services) from 167,349 (according to the US Patent and Trademark Office). IBM accounted for about 2.7 percent of patents issued -- with Samsung and Microsoft 6.25 percent. The top-10 receivers, all of them tech companies, were issued 27,594 patents, or 12.5 percent of the 2010 total.

Advanced Micro Devices CEO Dirk Meyer has resigned form his position, and will be replaced temporarily by CFO Thomas Seifert while the company shops around for a new head. The change in executive staff looks to be the ceremonial completion of AMD's integration with ATi.

Back in 2006, AMD announced it had begun a project to build a hybrid CPU/GPU platform called Fusion that was the result of a $5.4 billion cash and stock deal to acquire graphics company ATi. Originally, AMD said the new processors would be available in 2008 or 2009. One year later, AMD shifted its goals and told us that it would probably take a bit longer for the new design to come to fruition.

The end of the Bob Muglia era at Microsoft is a memory-rouser for us who have been in the business for a while. Muglia has served in important roles with important products for a long time, and I've worked with him on several. Which brings me to the first time I met him (cue harp strumming).

It was July 4, maybe July 3, 1992, the very first Windows Professional Developer Conference, at the Moscone, in San Francisco. Heady days they were, as I was Technical Director at PC Week Labs, and we were at the beginning of Will Zachman-PC Week fight which, if you don't remember it, consider yourself fortunate.

This afternoon, I searched the CNET News.com archives to see if I had written something about Apple launching iTunes in January 2001. Hey, it's the 10th anniversary. But another story caught my attention: "Merrill Lynch to Apple Investors: Sell," from Jan. 7, 2003. On the eve of Macworld, with Apple shares at $14.85, analyst Michael Hillmeyer reinstated Apple coverage with "sell."

"Although Apple makes great products, in our view the new product pipeline looks skimpy and we expect continued market share losses," Hillmeyer wrote in a note to investors. "A product differentiation strategy is difficult in a business increasingly commoditizing."

If you've never gone to the Consumer Electronics Show, there's only one thing you really need to know: it's hell on the feet. The Las Vegas Convention Center is 3.2 million square feet, The Venetian ballroom and convention space adds 2.25 million square feet to that, and the Las Vegas Hilton tacks on yet another 35,000 square feet. So when you go, expect to traverse about 5.5 million square feet worth of technology company booths and presentation spaces, and this is all without even including the events, meetings, and parties tucked away in every hotel both on- and off the strip.

It's a lot of walking.

The leader of Microsoft's Server and Tools Business goes out with a slap in the face.

In an executive e-mail released by Microsoft today, CEO Steve Ballmer revealed Bob Muglia's departure. The Microsoft veteran played an essential role building up the Server and Tools Business division, and he is popular with software developers. Muglia joined Microsoft in 1988 and became president of the Server and Tools Business two years ago this month.

The Visteon iPad dock provides a charging cradle for Apple's "I look cool" device. However, what's really cool about this product is its communicating with the vehicle's computer via a completely wireless network. Control of the HVAC, radio, phone and navigation system is possible from any seat in or out of the vehicle.

I see over on Business Insider that AT&T's PR boss is already bashing the Verizon iPhone that will be announced [this] week.

AT&T should shut up.

By just about every measure, 2010 was a great year for Google -- perhaps its best ever. So I'm surprised to have read over the last 10 days or so, several commentaries and punditries asserting that Google has slowed down and is losing its competitive edge. These prognosticators of Google doom are fraking crazy. Anyone who asserts that Google has lost its mojo is simply and absolutely clueless.

Google is on a roll and showing its mojo everywhere. No tech company on the planet is iterating products and services faster than Google. Not a week goes by when Google isn't announcing something new somewhere. Perhaps some of Google's critics aren't paying close enough attention, since there are few Apple-like media events, which draw lots of attention.

Parrot Electronics showcases its new Asteroid single din head unit running the Android operating system using an ARM 9 processor at roughly 500 MHz. Music, Bluetooth, Navigation, USB connectivity and an integrated amplifier all fit in a form factor less than 5-inches deep. Best of all, the unit will be open for community application development.

Two of the world's top four mobile phone makers hold their prestigious positions with almost no presence in the United States at all, but one of them looks to have what it takes to make a strong impression in the U.S. in the not too distant future.

I'm talking about Nokia and ZTE, who each enjoy massive popularity in Europe and Asia, but who have remained relatively silent in the states. Judging by ZTE's performance at the end of 2010, and its presence at CES 2011 this week, however, the Chinese telecommunications company will be stepping up its brand in the United States in a big way when the transition to 4G technology is in full swing.