Not long after the ThunderBolt was announced, about a few days or so, the press release was changed, Engadget even had a story on this
it went from "the first LTE smartphone, the HTC ThunderBolt exclusively for Verizon Wireless"
to "one of the first LTE smartphones exclusively for Verizon Wireless"
so either something went down during CES that caused them to change there stance as being the first LTE smartphone or Verizon made them change it.
sadly, the Samsung Indulge is the worlds first LTE smartphone on MetroPCS, or so thats what i read when i heard about it trying to come to market before ThunderBolt
fact here was, AT&T, MetroPCS and T-Mobile were all trying to get there 4G phones out first before Verizon, and they have succeeded
but being first doesn't necessarily mean its a good thing, especially if Verizon is finding problems with LTE and delaying the launch to make sure its perfect.
(you would think they would have done this before they launched it in December) If anything if I were the CEO of Verizon, i would have invested all the resources to get LTE off the ground first, then get the fruity phone with LTE on board and beat AT&T to the punch, making it a win win situation for all fans.