Pre-orders of Verizon's iPhone 4 sold out at approximately 8:10 p.m. EST Thursday night, according to a Verizon press release.  Those strong sales propelled the iPhone 4 to take the honor of becoming the fastest selling pre-sale phone in Verizon's history.

Next Thursday -- on Feb. 10, 2011 -- the iPhone 4 will get a chance to set more records when it officially launches at Verizon stores at 7 a.m. 

Verizon and Apple did not reveal how many units of the phone were called for during the pre-order, but stated that the demand was unprecedented.  They also would not say how many additional units would be available at stores at launch.  About the only thing they did say, was to post a message telling customers to check back the night before -- Feb. 9 at 3:01 a.m. for the possibility of more pre-order action.

The Verizon iPhone 4 earned largely positive reviews.  Despite its hardware being a bit dated by Android standards, its huge app library, new Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, slick operating system (iOS 4.x), improved reception, and remedied hardware issues led most reviewers to lavish it with praise.  About the only negative sentiments expressed were misgivings about Verizon's policies/prices/fees and some reviews results such as Engadget's which claimed Verizon's data network was slower (a CNET story claimed the opposite).

And the phone also benefits from the fact that the majority of iPhone users have lumped all the blame for various issues over the years on AT&T, by and large, despite some problems being equally or more the fault of Apple.  Thus the jump to Verizon will likely please the iPhone-loving masses from a pure cathartic perspective, even if the experience isn't night-and-day different from their stay on AT&T.

Verizon is doing its best to rub its better coverage in AT&T's face.  Having long suffered from "I want the iPhone, do you have it?" syndrome, the carrier now tastes sweet revenge in commercial form [video].  Iconic "Verizon Guy" Paul Marcarelli appears in a new add, playing with his new iPhone toy as a voice narrates, "It's beautiful. It's intelligent, even genius. But does your network work?"

At that point Verizon Guy's phone rings, and he answers it "Yes, I can hear you now."

That's about as clear a shot at AT&T's voice service as you can get.  And it’s yet another example of Verizon's aggressive advertising attacks on its second place rival that led to an unhappy AT&T unsuccessfully trying to sue Verizon, a little over a year ago.

MacRumors is reporting that AT&T has gone into panic mode, giving out free femtocells to iPhone customers to improve their quality of service, in an effort to stave off Verizon.  The femtocells provide users with a bubble of high quality 3G coverage even in areas where signal strength is typically weak.

AT&T can currently take comfort in the fact that it arguably offers the best Windows Phone 7 handset selection, though they aren't exactly selling like crazy.  As Verizon closes in on picking up Windows Phone 7, as well, AT&T will likely try to continue to beef up its Android and Windows Phone 7 portfolio to attract new customers, even as iPhone users defect.