UPDATE from HP TODAY (10/6/2017):
I just reached out to Kevin, the HP rep listed on Verizon's HP Elite X3 page, about the article listed above, including the source article. I asked if this would affect the Verizon variant of the roll out. Here are his exact words:
"Our plan was to launch an additional model of the X3 and decided recently to put that on hold. We are producing a Verizon version device and it should be available around 10/15. We did set a finite production quantity of it so we could secure parts based off the foretasted demand for the Verizon version device. That is not uncommon in the wireless phone business."
There you have it, a Verizon version is indeed being "produced" although it sounds like in a limited quantity. The question just remains, are you comfortable with only getting updates to this phone to about 2019. I for one am ok with it as I would hope MS gets their act together by then with their new industry defining mobile product. If not, then I will be forced to jump to Android. (I'm less of an iOS fan than Android, although I dislike both.)