I just got this over email from a Verizon lobbyist.
Verizon Wireless today announced that it will provide customers the option to use, on its nationwide wireless network, wireless devices, software and applications not offered by the company. Verizon Wireless plans to have this new choice available to customers throughout the country by the end of 2008.
In early 2008, the company will publish the technical standards the development community will need to design products to interface with the Verizon Wireless network. Any device that meets the minimum technical standard will be activated on the network. Devices will be tested and approved in a $20 million state-of-the-art testing lab which received an additional investment this year to gear up for the anticipated new demand. Any application the customer chooses will be allowed on these devices.
Verizon is getting both competitive and legal pressure to open its network, in the form of Google/Apple and in the net neutrality fight. It's still not tenable to have Verizon as a gatekeeper of new applications, as they are not a trustworthy third party and they have an economic interest in shutting other players out. But this is a sign that moving towards open networks in one arena forces openness elsewhere.
As an aside, it's interesting that all of the progressive progress on open communications networks happened during a Republican administration.
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