While speaking at a Barclays Capital conference in New York, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam reportedly relished in taking potshots at rivals Sprint and AT&T, while touting healthcare services as a key offering of the carrier's upcoming 4G network rollout, which it will begin to activate next year.

McAdam characterized AT&T's recent network upgrade announcement as too little too late, old news, and spin: "No other carrier will be able to match our speeds. It's a matter of physics. You can't spin this," McAdam said.

Once it has 4G live, Verizon Wireless says it will be the first choice for developers and device makers, but the carrier has no plans to rely on any one "hero device" -- a clear reference to the iPhone.

"Growth in the future will be measured on number of connections not subscribers," said McAdam. Multiple connections to the customer will drive future revenue for the carrier and McAdam used a health care example to explain. Here's the slide McAdam used to demonstrate how healthcare applications would work with its 4G network:

For more, check out this post from ZDNet.