Verizon CTO Tony Malone admitted on Monday at a conference that it was taking longer than they expected to get their 4G devices ready for launch, strengthening rumors that the reason behind the several launch delays of the HTC Thunderbolt being due to the 4G radio inside it using too much power draining the device's battery in an unacceptable amount of time.

According to ZDNet, Mr. Malone revealed the setbacks at the Credit Suisse's Convergence, and told listens that Verizon was still on track to launch the phones before the end of the first half of this year.

As for what issues are really behind the delay, he didn't confirm or deny any rumors, and merely mentioned that they are dealing with the issues that come with launching a new technology like LTE. When specifically asked about whether the problem lies with the battery and power consumption, he dodged the question.

This product launch may turn into a big fiasco for Verizon, seeing as they've alread pushed back the launch date more than once. It sounds like hardware manufacturers like HTC just never seem to understand that almost no one would be upset if phones were given bigger batteries so that they could last longer. Since when is slimmness more important than better battery life?

If the battery problem is as severe as some people say it is, I wouldn't be surprised if the launch date got pushed back a few more months or more, as the solution to get a day's worth of life from the phone may be to simply put a bigger battery in the device, and knowing HTC's designs, that could require a significant redesign of the device.