Verizon to Open Wireless Network to Any App or Device

[MacRumors]

The big industry news today comes from Verizon when they announced that in 2008 that it would offer wireless service plans open to any application or device.

[Verizon] said it will publish early next year technical standards for the development community, which are necessary for designing software, applications and devices that can run on its network. The carrier said that any device that meets the minimum technical standards will be activated on the network. It hopes to have new devices and applications available to customers by the end of next year.

Verizon expects the new service to open up new services and devices and encourage innovation. The service is also aimed at smaller players who would otherwise be unable to offer similar services. Indeed, per Arstechnica, one Verizon exec claimed that even "if someone builds a device in their basement on a breadboard, Verizon will test it and activate it." Pricing is claimed to be reasonable, with no specific restrictions on usage.

This news comes in the wake of Google's Android wireless platform announcement, but is not associated with that initiative. Meanwhile, Verizon still uses a CDMA network, while the iPhone is a GSM device. As a result, it's unlikely this announcement will necessarily have any affect on Apple's iPhone.


Article Link

[Grimace]

yummy! Verizon iPhone!

[gphoto]

Sounds like a good idea!

[Stridder44]

Doesn't CDMA suck compared to GSM? I remember hearing this somewhere but perhaps it's not true?

[O and A]

What about an iPod Touch with EVDO?

VERY interesting....

[bdkennedy1]

YAY!!! Stick it to Comcast!

[levitynyc]

Originally Posted by gphoto

Sounds like a good idea!

No way they are making a CDMA iPhone

[arn]

As stated in the article. this won't have anything to do with the iPhone directly... but is an interesting move and probably will introduce a lot of novel applications/devices.

arn

[asketchbook]

It really looks like the wireless industry in the U.S. Is taking some positive steps forward. I wonder what could have prompted this shift...

[bdkennedy1]

AT&T and the cable companies sitting on their asses doing the absolute minimum amount of work possible and spanking users for using their networks more than casually.

China has better networks than we do. CHINA.

Originally Posted by asketchbook

It really looks like the wireless industry in the U.S. Is taking some positive steps forward. I wonder what could have prompted this shift...

[gugy]

forget it for the next 5 years. Verizon will not have an iPhone. AT&T has a contract with Apple, so no matter what Verizon does, AT&T protected their b*tts.
I am about to switch to AT&T when the iPhone 2.0 comes out. I am sick and tired of Verizon reception in my area. It used to be great, now there is not a single call more than 5 minutes long that do not drop. It's a nightmare. They suck bad.

[Small White Car]

I was wondering which cell company would "get it" first.

10 years from now no one will be paying for cellular phone service. You'll be paying someone for wired internet in your home and someone else for wireless access everywhere else. (Maybe the same company, but maybe not.) From those connections you will get TV, home phone, web sites, media purching, media rentals, and outdoor phone service.

The difference is that you'll only be paying AT&T or T-Mobile for the connection, and everything else willl be done through the web. Sure, the cell companies can offer phone service and phone numbers, but that will be a distinct business from offering the connection, unlike now where the 2 are linked.

The cellular companies that survive will be the ones that make this transition first and best. Looks like Verizon is trying to get a head start.

[asphalt-proof]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

I was wondering which cell company would "get it" first.

10 years from now no one will be paying for cellular phone service. You'll be paying someone for wired internet in your home and someone else for wireless access everywhere else. (Maybe the same company, but maybe not.) From those connections you will get TV, home phone, web sites, media purching, media rentals, and outdoor phone service.

The difference is that you'll only be paying AT&T or T-Mobile for the connection, and everything else willl be done through the web. Sure, the cell companies can offer phone service and phone numbers, but that will be a distinct business from offering the connection, unlike now where the 2 are linked.

The cellular companies that survive will be the ones that make this transition first and best. Looks like Verizon is trying to get a head start.

This is great vision and I think it could haappen but i really think that the telcos are going to fight it tooth and nail. You are talking about a huge amount of money done away with. Apple has shaken the industry with its iPhone in a way that other smartphones have not. Its forcing the telcos change their way of doing business with the handsets. I think that its going to be Google (if they get the 700 spectrum) that forces them to change their model of pricing and services. I give it a slightly lower than even chance of your vision coming to fruition.

[indiekiduk]

Sounds to me like Amazon are the ones to thank for this. Their Kindle device is the first one to utilise this kind of service and in their discussions they must have opened Verizon's eyes to this opportunity.

[iSee]

This is really, really good news.

It's going to be hard to image at this point exactly how this will be used, but it is potentially revolutionary.

Here's what you (might) get: A near ubiquitous (for much of the US, anyway), wireless, unrestricted, inexpensive network.

OK, ok, the details may not bear this out, but this is the potential.

By the way, here's my idea: The Friend Finder (need a better name). It would be a little device that you throw in your wallet or purse. It's loaded with your address book or your classmates.com profile, facebook contacts, or whatever.
Whenever you are X meters away from one of your contacts, the thing rings or beeps or whatever to let you know. The other person's will similarily beep. you could both hit a button to agree to meet and then you could actually go find each other. There'd be various privacy settings, of course. If you're really extraverted, you could even set it to beep for friends of friends, etc.

[plumbingandtech]

Originally Posted by indiekiduk

Sounds to me like Amazon are the ones to thank for this. Their Kindle device is the first one to utilise this kind of service and in their discussions they must have opened Verizon's eyes to this opportunity.

Kindle had nothing to do with this.

Verizon sees the writing (and possible new Govt. laws), and 700mhz spectrum on the wall and wants to get out in front of it.

That is all. Bezos and his 7th time must be the charm, overpriced Book reader had nothing to do with this.

[shadowfax]

Originally Posted by asphalt-proof

This is great vision and I think it could haappen but i really think that the telcos are going to fight it tooth and nail. You are talking about a huge amount of money done away with. Apple has shaken the industry with its iPhone in a way that other smartphones have not. Its forcing the telcos change their way of doing business with the handsets. I think that its going to be Google (if they get the 700 spectrum) that forces them to change their model of pricing and services. I give it a slightly lower than even chance of your vision coming to fruition.

well, either telecom competition will get so utterly stiff that one slouching company will "reinvent" itself by trying something crazy by implementing a business model that benefits the consumer, thereby beating out the competition until they follow suit, or a new company will come in and force them to do the same. Or we could legislate it, as we are fond of doing here in the proud US of A.

[Grimace]

Ooh, ooh!! New lawsuits and new legislation next Tuesday!!

[arn]

Originally Posted by plumbingandtech

Kindle had nothing to do with this.

Verizon sees the writing (and possible new Govt. laws), and 700mhz spectrum on the wall and wants to get out in front of it.

I would think Android may have accelerated this plan too.

arn

[Stella]

Originally Posted by Stridder44

Doesn't CDMA suck compared to GSM? I remember hearing this somewhere but perhaps it's not true?

CDMA has better voice quality but GSM is more prevalent. CDMA is mostly north america only.

Don't bother taking your CDMA phone to Europe to use more than a door stop.

-

This Verizon initiative sounds like a great idea...

[brucku]

The rest of the world has given up on CDMA. I heard that verizon's new network will be a GSM variant - I really hope they are not going to try to encourage innovation using old technology that is not the widely accepted standard. Thats like promoting Sony Betamax development or LaserDisc innovation.


CDMA may have better signal in some areas, and better call quality (i have no idea if it does).

But innovation is development that pushes technology forward, wasting resources on old and long forgotten networks is not a good idea.

[Silencio]

Sounds good on paper, but what criteria will constitute Verizon's "testing and certification" that must be done before the devices are allowed on their network? Will they deny permission to use devices they don't like in an arbitrary manner? What's touted as "open" might not end up being much more open than things are now; the proof will be in the execution, but color me skeptical until then.

But yeah, this reeks of a desparation tactic to keep CDMA relevant in an increasingly GSM-oriented world.

[fabsgwu]

Originally Posted by gugy

I am sick and tired of Verizon reception in my area. It used to be great, now there is not a single call more than 5 minutes long that do not drop. It's a nightmare. They suck bad.

Do you regularly update your phone's roaming database? *228, option 2. It's very important to do that with VZW....

[O and A]

Originally Posted by Stella

CDMA has better voice quality but GSM is more prevalent. CDMA is mostly north america only.

Don't bother taking your CDMA phone to Europe to use more than a door stop.

-

This Verizon initiative sounds like a great idea...

This isn't entirely true. My verizon phone has worked in central america and europe. Its expensive but it does work in some areas.

Anyway back on topic. Does anyone think that maybe EVDO could be added to the ipod touch?

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by asphalt-proof

This is great vision and I think it could haappen but i really think that the telcos are going to fight it tooth and nail. You are talking about a huge amount of money done away with.

They actually have opportunities to make more money than ever if they're smart.

But I don't need to go through all those reasons here...what matters is if THEY understand that or not.

You're totally correct in saying the odds of that aren't fantastic. That's what excites me about this news. It's not what they're doing, exactly, but just the fact that they see the need to do it. That's encouraging.

EDIT: And, I might add, I strongly suspect Apple agrees with me. I'm guessing that they see the iPhone as a temporary 5-10 year product. At that point they'll just have iPods that do everything and stop selling the phone altogether. Remember how "iPod Photo" was a product and then became absorbed into the normal iPod? That happened in about a year. Expect the same thing to happen to the iPhone but over a decade instead of a year. This strategy makes absolute sense IF my guesses about the industry are good ones. We'll see.