Audiovox CDM-9900

i am very close to a verizon employee, and i dont think it will be any time soon . my proof is that the lg4500 was fcc approved in march of 2003, the trainers at my freinds job have had the phone since july or august and its still not out yet, well the trainers dont even have this phone yet. i hope it comes out sooner b/c my 9500 is on its way out and it has perfomed perfectly after going swiming 3 times and dropped countless others. to be honest im scared to buy any other phone