Best Buy to Exclusively Carry HTC Thunderbolt In Lieu of Verizon iPhone Sales

According to a report, Best Buy has secured the exclusive retail sales rights to Verizon’s forthcoming HTC Thunderbolt LTE smartphone as a consequence of being unable to sell the Verizon iPhone due its current agreement to sell the AT&T version and the retailer’s decision to push Verizon’s LTE network.

The HTC Thunderbolt will be one of the first LTE smartphones on Verizon when it is launched in late February, with employees instructed to guide customers looking for the Verizon iPhone to either the Thunderbolt as an alternative or the AT&T version.

Announced during CES at Verizon’s press conference, the Thunderbolt is the dual-mode CDMA/LTE variant of the Desire HD with a 4.3 inch WVGA resolution capacitive touch display, Snapdragon processor, Android 2.2, front facing camera, 8GB of flash memory with 768MB RAM, 32GB bundled microSD card, Wi-Fi N radio, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, dual microphones with noise cancellation support, Dolby Surround audio, compass, accelerometer, proximity sensor, Light sensor, 3.5mm headphone jack and FM radio along with an 8.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash.