Verizon Wireless To Let You Use Any Phone On Its Network

by Terrence O'Brien on November 28, 2007 at 11:23 AM

Verizon has announced, to the amazement of many of us cynics, that it will be opening up its wireless network to any device that meets a minimum set of technical standards, the specifics of which will be announced in early 2008. Those standards are likely to be something simple along the lines of connecting to the CDMA network that Verizon runs, and that don't interfere with wireless traffic.

In fact Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer, John Stratton, told a Dow Jones reporter that the devices in question need not be phones. He is quoted as saying the types of devices a customer could connect are "subject to the imagination of the marketplace." Hello, Kindle, Zune, and other wireless devices that are not phones.

This means that, if you so desired, you could build your own phone, or mobile Internet device, or even portable video game system with high-speed EV-DO capabilities in your basement on a breadboard, take it or send it to the Verizon labs, and, if it passes muster, connect it to the Verizon network. But that's for geeks like us (or maybe you) -- what's more likely is that people will buy themselves an unlocked phone, or perhaps a phone from a small name builder, or maybe just carry over their Sprint or Alltel handsets. (Phones from T-Mobile and AT&T will not work because those operators use GSM, a different technology than Verizon.)

Verizon also said it would allow users to surf the Web openly and download any independent, third-party applications. This kind of functionality has been available around the world for a while now, but it's a first for the United States. The long and short of it is you'll be able to pick and choose what you want to download to your phone, rather than rely on whatever Verizon offers you "on deck." It also means, most likely, that users will be able to download porn for the first time onto their phones (again, something that the rest of the world has been able to do for a while).

One risk that comes with all this extra access is the increased probability of viruses and other malware on your phone. Because only carrier-approved software has been allowed to be installed on most phones until now, the cell phone space has been relatively free of viruses. Our guess is, this won't be true for much longer.

Exact details on how Verizon plans to implement this groundbreaking new strategy are limited at this point, and what exactly this means for the consumer remains to be seen. But the decision by Verizon to open its network to any hardware or software a customer desires is a game changing event, and one that sends the industry in the right direction. In fact, this is one way for Verizon to allow devices running Google's Android mobile OS with out joining the Open Handset Alliance.

Open access, open source, open everything. Are we seeing the beginnings of the next big shift in the technology industry away from the traditional business models? Can customers expect more choices and more transparency from now on? Time will tell.

In the meantime, we've created a little gallery of our favorite phones that we hope, some day, may make it onto one of our favorite carriers. We've even included the iPhone (duh), but remember, since that phone works on GSM networks, it won't EVER work with Verizon unless Apple decides some day to make a CDMA version of the iPhone.