Full details on this story are still forthcoming--all or most of which we hope to have cleared up when we speak to Verizon Wireless representatives, later this morning. What we do know at the moment, thanks to a press release issued by the company, is this: early next year, the number two wireless carrier in the country "will publish the technical standards the development community will need to design products to interface with the Verizon Wireless network."
The company will activate on the network any devices that meet the "minimum technical standard." The company has also asserted that, "any application the customer chooses will be allowed on these devices."
In all, the move seems to be an acceptance of the openness already embraced by Verizon's largest competitor, AT&T, which has long left its network open to unlocked devices and third-party apps. Long recognized as the harbinger of lockdowns and crippled device features, Verizon is looking at the expanded options already offered by the other major wireless carriers, but not, of course, without gritting its teeth with a touch of corporate speech.
"While most Verizon Wireless customers prefer the convenience of full service," the release reads, "the company is listening through today's announcement to a small but growing number of customers who want another choice without full service. Both full-service and 'bring-your-own' customers will have the advantage of using America's most reliable network."
An honest-to-god embrace of openness or nice-sounding corporate speak? We'll be talking to Verizon in a bit, and will let you know what we find out.
In the meantime, here's what our lead phone analyst Sascha Segan has to say on the subject (after having consumed, by my count, seven cups of Dunkin Donuts coffee):
You will not be able to use your iPhone on Verizon. Nor will you be able to use any of those exciting Nokia phones. Verizon's announcement doesn't change the fact that their CDMA radios are physically incompatible with the GSM radios used by many other phones. A policy change can't make those technologies work together.
What this does mean is that you may be able to use Sprint, Alltel, or some exotic Korean phones on Verizon - and that manufacturers may come out with more Verizon-compatible phones in the future.
The application issue is muddier. Right now, Verizon uses BREW, an application development system for which is it expensive and complicated to develop. Most of the rest of the world uses JAVA. If Verizon begins to allow JAVA applications, that could mean a lot more possibilities - such as free Web browsers and e-mail programs - on Verizon phones. We'll find that out later today.
Verizon has a couple of ways it could sabotage this. For instance, it could say, "we'll let you run any application or use any phone - as long as it goes through our six-month, $50,000 certification process." That would be similar to the unlocked iPhone announcement in Germany; by pricing the phones at $1,500 each, Apple and T-Mobile got to say the phones were unlocked without the actual threat of selling any.
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November 27, 2007 11:08 AM
Well hell. Was that a pig I saw flying through the clouds this morning?
November 27, 2007 3:10 PM
Brian,
This is very interesting news indeed. I'm confused by some of the analysis at the end of your blog by Sascha Segan. If Verizon publishes the technical details for interfacing phones with their network and allows customers to use whichever applications they want, what restrictions could be placed to prevent any application from being used? Phones could (possibly) be restricted by this process, but once running, the phones provide the operating environment.
Consider this: Linux-based phone designed to work with Verizon's network and running Google's Android. It's a great (and necessary) move by Verizon. They continue to tow their corporate party-line holding most customer hands while allowing their network share to proliferate to a market they have previously rejected. Even if it eventually eats into their current "control all customers" market share, someone was going to eat their lunch, it might as well be their future selves.
November 27, 2007 3:49 PM
First of all, that somewhat inaccurate pregame analysis has been succeeded by the postgame stories on PCMag.com.
But getting to your immediate question: Verizon will still approve devices, just supposedly more cheaply and quickly. And they'll still have the ability to, for instance, block network ports - that gets to your specific application issue. There are ways they could shoot themselves in the foot if they wanted to. But overall I agree with you - this is a very good and forward-looking thing they're doing.