Now THAT'S what I'm talkin about. :D I could probably bemoan the whole gub'ment intrudin' into business thing, but I'm a sensible person and if this means that the American cell phone market evolves in a more open way like our neighbors in just about every other country in the world, that makes me happy.

Yeah! It's so unfair that only GM vehicles carry OnStar too. I should be able to get OnStar in my Ford and I should be able to use it on my AT&T account rather than needing Verizon's plan. Riiiight. WTF does this airhead think he has the right to do? Dictate our complete lives to us?

So, government is wanting to infringe on a businesses development rights now. Why not eliminate copyrights and trademarks too!

Aaaand there we go. "That gub'ment messin' wit da business! WAHHHHHH." No one's telling anyone what to do, they're saying maybe WE should have the choice to use the device we want on the carrier we want. So what I'm hearing is people arguing that cellular carriers should have the right to dictate to everyone what devices we can use on who's network at all times?

Seriously folks. Read the article? Click the links? Something other than a knee-jerk reaction based on your political affiliation?

This younger generation is so out of touch. They don't even listen to what a person like Kerry is saying. I would be willing to bet you that Bill Elliott is a Republician. I would like to be able to buy a phone and go with the company that I want to go with. That is the way it should be not the other way around. Hey everyone have a nice day.

I guess you could get Onstar in your Ford car if Ford owned Onstar, but GM owns them, it's a service of GM for GM cars....

The cell phone market needs to be broken up, contracts with early term fees, auto renewal for contracts, prorates only when its in their favor, government needs to do something with them. Text messages that cost less than a penny that they charge an arm and a leg for even with a monthly texting plan when you break it all down.

Cell phone companies have had it made, it's time to make it a level field, so I can use my phone, it is mine right? on the network I want with out having to buy something new.

I think it would be about time for the government to do something. I am on Verizon and would love a Blackberry, but the dataplan is too expensive. I can't have a Blackberry with out the dataplan, so no Blackberry.

I could use an iPhone, but AT and T is not a good service for where I live. Verizon is the only one who is stable here.

We can complain about government interference, but without it Ma Bell would still be the only landline phone company out there.

Its about time someone turns these huge phone companies around and let the smaller companies compete. They been dictating to the american consumer long enough, however don't just stop there, add the banks, drug companies, lobbyist marching on Washington etc. I can go on and on, however "NO ONE WILL LISTEN"

It's amazing how naive you people are! So what you're saying is you don't mind paying the $300-$600 retail price of a phone so you can use it on the carrier of your choice? BTW, you can do that already! Buy the phone outright and get it unlocked. but no, you would rather force the phone manufacture to incur greater costs to make the phone you want on the carrier of your choice. It's like saying, I want a ford mustang, but with a hemi engine, onstar, built by toyota, and with the warranty of Mitsubishi. You want something for nothing, and you have no clue how the industry operates or the costs involved. It seems the people who complain about having to sign a contract so they can get a free phone instead of paying the $300-$600 outright seem to forget or ignore the way things were just 10 years ago when it costs so much more for so much less. For them, the glass is always half empty.

Enough is enough already! I am so sick of this government getting into private business! Where in the Constitution does it say the government has any right at all to intrude into private businesses? Microsoft, GM, the banking industry - who's next?Look, if AT&T pays Apple for exclusive rights to sell iPhone, and their service sucks, then people will buy another phone with a better service provider. I'm sorry people, but a really cool phone is a luxury item, and it is not a 'right' to own one.
If this country does not wake up and realize that our government has gotten completely off track, we're going to wake up one day and realize we aren't the Home of the Free anymore.

@Greg: tell us how you feel about taxes.

Seriously, I'm tired of this attitude where people are willing to lay down in front of corporate America but whine and complain about government - every other mobile market in the world looks down on the United States because our carriers are these greedy behemoths leeching money from customers without any regard for their desires. A phone may not be a right, but once something is my property I should have the right to use it how I choose, shouldn't I?

Or would you prefer to give more power to companies and boardrooms to control who you speak to and how instead of allowing the government to exercise the oversight over those companies like the Constitution says they should? (I really think the people who wave it around ought to sit and read it.) Let me get this straight - you'd rather let the organizations in which you have no say control your life than the organizations in which you DO have a say, is that right? What was that about being the LAND of the free?

Kerry is all wrong on the iPhone - it's not as though there aren't other cellphones out there - the iPhone is just a particularly popular model. Unless Apple corners the market for all cellphones, there's no injustice in it specifying which carrier you have to use. Ironically, of course, Apple cut its own throat with this deal, since the iPhone would be even bigger than it is now if all carriers had access to it. Is Apple paying Kerry to make this fuss?

Kerry is right (but even a stopped clock is right twice a day...) on the contracts for phones - they mask the true cost of the phones, bloat up the cost of cellphone contracts (you're paying for those phones through your cellphone bill, you know) and they have effectively smothered a free market in unlocked cellphones that can be used on any network compatible with the cellphone. Until the practice of tying phone purchases to service contracts end, we'll continue to pay too much for our cellphones.

Well, the most logical argument in this thread was made by bincincy.

This has to do with the carriers SUBSIDIZING the price of the phones. Do you think these companies are stupid? They've done the math and the cellular contract you sign has the price of the phone built into it. That's why the phone is cheaper when you buy it with a contract. You can buy an iPhone without a contract. It's just $500-$600. Part of the phone/carrier problem is that carriers themselves (ie Verizon vs AT&T) use different technologies so NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRIED, an iPhone just wouldn't work on Verizon's network.

Learn something about the business model before you complain about it.

Kerry is right a lot of phones only work with one company. you drop that your phone service and that phone becomes a paperweight. Ask your service provider if you can get an unlocked phone and use their service.Most will tell NO !!