Yesterday a rumor claimed that Apple has blocked employee vacation time for three weeks beginning at the end of January, possibly in anticipation of the Verizon iPhone.  Now we've got an addendum to that rumor, and possibly even a VZW iPhone launch date.  According to "a source close to Apple," employees in several regions of the U.S. have been told that they cannot take vacation between February 3rd and February 6th, which is Thursday through Sunday.  It hasn't been confirmed that it will be Verizon's iPhone debuting on the 3rd, but Apple has used the Thursday-Sunday period to launch products before, and Verizon is known to launch products on Thursdays in the past, too.

We've heard several times in the past that the Verizon iPhone will launch some time in Q1, possibly some time before Valentine's Day, so it seems that all signs are pointing toward the mythical device launching on Feb. 3rd.  An early February launch sounds about right to me, and could give Verizon and Apple a healthy sales boost over Valentine's Day, not that it really needs a holiday to see big sales numbers.  So, what do you all think?  Are we going to see the Verizon iPhone really, finally make its debut in just under a month?

UPDATE: Now the folks at The iPhone Blog are reporting that Verizon is holding mandatory training sessions for an "iconic pre-order" that's scheduled to last from January 25th to February 4th.  This comes from a source that's been "good" to the site in the past.  Considering how long we've been hearing Verizon iPhone rumors, it's tough to completely buy what we're hearing now, but the evidence is certainly piling up.

Via BGR, The iPhone Blog