At an event in New York City today which kicked off at 11 am EST, executives from Verizon took stage and announced, before the tech/apple community press, that they will begin selling a CDMA variant of the iPhone 4.

Many press were invited to this event. The invites made the news as they were sent out last Thursday. MG Siegler of Techcrunch even noted that Jon Oliver from the daily show was there. Press in attendance reported that the voice-over announcer for the event was John Hodgman of Daily Show fame (and PC Guy from the Apple commercials). Andy Ihnatko reported that, at one point, John Oliver stood up and screamed "Fuck yeah!" to the stage.

As reported by Engadget:

10:56AM Whoa. John Oliver just screamed "F*ck yeah! Thank you!" -- Apparently he's doing a bit. Wait, he's doing it again. "Oh thank god! Thank you!" Ha!

COO of Apple, Tim Cook, too the stage with Verizon executive Lowell Macadam, and jointly announced the iPhone 4 coming to Verizon. The phone will be available in 16GB models for $199.99, and $299.99 for 32 GB devices (both with a 2 year contract). Unlike AT&T, there will also be a Wi-Fi hotspot feature where you can connect up to 5 devices. The device will go on sale February 10, but existing Verizon customers will be able to pre-order starting February 3.

On notable drawback is one that many people have always stated is true with CDMA devices. When you receive a phone call, your data will drop. Tim Cook ood questions from the press in regards to why they didn't release the phone as an LTE phone. Cook said, "Two reasons -- the first gen LTW chipsets force design changes we wouldn't make. And Verizon customers told us they want the iPhone now. I can't tell you the number of times we've been asked 'when will it work on Verizon'". He did say the CDMA phone was non-exclusive to Verizon. Hmm..Sprint maybe in the future too?

One other notable feature: No pre-installed Verizon "crapps" to muck up your phone. This phone will be just like an AT&T phone, but on Verizon (with the slight CDMA drawback & wifi hotspot bonus).

It only took 3.5 years, but it's finally here.