With Apple and Verizon Wireless sharing a newfound affection for each other, we kind of assumed the iPad would follow the iPhone 4’s tracks and wind up on Verizon’s CDMA network.

Assume no more. Quoting Francis Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer, Bloomberg reports that the iPad will eventually get an embedded chip to run directly on Verizon Wireless. Currently, Verizon sells an iPad and Mi-Fi hotspot for the same prices as AT&T’s iPad with 3G built in, along with data plans starting at $20 per month for 1 GB.

But Shammo didn’t say when the Verizon iPad would happen, and it’s certainly not an official announcement of any kind, so the news raises more questions than it answers.

Such as:

-Will Verizon get the current iPad, or will it skip a generation and launch whatever Apple is presumably working on next? (My guess: It’ll be the iPad 2 unless we see an announcement in the next week or two.)

-What’ll happen to the current offer of iPad, Verizon Mi-Fi hotspot and discounted data? (My guess: They’ll go away once the Verizon-embedded iPad arrives. Bonus guess: The next iPad will act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, just like the Verizon iPhone.)

-Will the iPad run on Verizon’s 4G network? (My guess: If it’s a current-gen iPad, no. If it’s the iPad 2, yes.)

-Will Verizon hold a big press conference to announce the iPad? (My guess: Just a press release if it’s the current iPad. Otherwise Apple will announce it whenever it announces the next-gen iPad itself.)

 
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