apple isn't telling verizon when verizon customers can upgrade.
in response to trim's point, the sale price is still the same, the discount/rebate doesn't effect the sale price.
the issue is that the iphone is so highly subsidized by the carrier that the carrier doesn't want to eat into its margin any more than the subsidy/rebate offer already does. so in this example, they're saying it's apple's call. but it's not.
i still don't believe that they're going to make you wait until the end of december, but who knows.