Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel S. Mead told The Wall Street Journal that sales of the iPhone 4 were very strong, contrary to reports that the phone wasn’t selling as well as expected. The article, penned by Shayndi Raice, included some other tasty tidbits too (it’s behind a paywall).

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]Sixty percent of Verizon’s iPhone 4 orders came from online sales, which Mead explained was the reason why there weren’t long lines at Apple or Verizon stores on launch day. What’s more, said Mead, Verizon limited the number of iPhone 4s it sold in it stores.

Verizon is spending a lot of advertising money to build awareness of its burgeoning 4G network, which uses Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology to improve data rates and, at long last, enable Verizon iPhones to carry voice and data communications simultaneously. Apple is conspicuously absent from that market at present – its Verizon version of the iPhone 4 supports Verizon’s 3G CDMA technology only.

Mead stopped short of giving specific details of an Apple LTE device, but said, “I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it,” referring to Apple and LTE.

At the Verizon iPhone 4 rollout in January, Apple COO Tim Cook told reporters that Apple didn’t think first-generation LTE chipsets were a good match for the iPhone, citing issues with the chip design.

Verizon says LTE coverage is available in 38 markets nationwide – a far cry from their much-vaunted nationwide 3G coverage area. The company suggests that its LTE network will blanket the country by the end of 2013, giving Apple plenty of time to produce an iPhone that supports the technology.