Since AT&T has exclusive iPhone rights, Apple has teamed up with Verizon to release a new ‘lighter’ version of the mighty iPhone. It seems that Verizon becomes has more and more iPhone envy, as InternetNews describes it.

Apple will probably enter negotiations with US-leading wireless carrier Verizon to release a tiny, tablet-style PC with WiFi and a miniature version of the iPhone, writes InternetNews.

The two companies are already discussing plans for a media pad that would let users liten to music, view photos and watch videos and which would place calls over a WiFi connection.

In consequence, Apple are considering issuing a lower-end version of the iPhone, a smaller and a less expensive than the original. The ‘iPhone Lite’ will cost less because it relies on a lower-cost system-on-a-chip design, BusinessWeek reports.

Both companies would benefit from this partnership. Verizon gets ‘a slice of the Apple pie while the iPhone maker gets a second carrier to subsidize and sell non-iPhone products’.