Verizon chief operating officer Lowell McAdam announced today that a version of the iPhone 4 compatible with its network would be available for pre-order to existing customers beginning February 3, with general availability February 10. The culmination of more than two years of rumors came as almost an anticlimax, as virtually every media outlet was reporting the Verizon iPhone as fact before it was announced. “If the press writes about something long enough and hard enough, eventually it comes true,” McAdam said, acknowledging the long wait for a second carrier in the United States. Apple COO Tim Cook, who joined McAdam on stage at New York’s Lincoln Center, hailed the step, saying Apple was “incredibly pleased to give Verizon’s customers the choice we’ve been waiting for.”