Can I activate an iPhone (currently have a blackberry)?

I'm with verizon and I have a blackberry. The reason why I haven't upgraded to the iPhone on a contract is because I have the unlimited data plan and if I sign a contract to get the iPhone i forfeit my grandfathered unlimited data plan. So to keep the data plan I need to buy the physical phone itself with no contract.

So now my question is, right now I have a blackberry so I guess I'm on the blackberry network or whatever (i don't know the technicalities with cellphones). If I deactivate my blackberry can I activate the iPhone I just bought or do I have to take it into the verizon store?

The thing is that I'm in college and my parents are the one who are the account owners and right now they are in NY and dealing with the crisis of the store so they can't help me.

Do you have a SIM card in your blackberry? I'm not sure if all US iPhones come with SIM cards, but I think at least some of them do, so it should be possible to find a suitable device.

However the newer iPhones (which is probably what you want) use Micro-SIM cards. The cards are electrically equivalent, but they have less plastic around them. So you can actually (weird as it is) cut off some of the plastic of a normal SIM card and insert them into a Micro-SIM slot. It might be possible to ask Verizon to exchange the standard SIM for a Micro-SIM, too.

I put a link below which illustrates one of the methods to cut the card.

I believe otherwise you don't have to do anything to activate the phone. However one good way to verify this, would be to borrow a phone with a normal SIM card and check whether you can use it without problems with your Blackberry SIM.