After coming out, Verizon revels in open lifestyle
Every reformed sinner, every recovering addict, everyone who has ever made a dramatic change to get their karma and dharma realigned knows the score — depending on how badly you burned them in the past, the people in your life, even as they root for you, are going to be wary for a while until they see words become deeds. So Verizon Wireless can’t be surprised if there’s a bit of skepticism mixed with the hopes it has raised with its new commitment to open systems (see “All in all, it’s just another crack in the wall“). But the more you listen to CEO Lowell McAdam, the easier it is to believe that Verizon is serious.
In a BusinessWeek interview, McAdam announced that as part of its “any app, any device” future, his company would support Android, Google’s emerging open mobile operating system (see “Google announces the Gee-it’s-just-software-after-all phone“). Far from being a sudden shift, McAdam says he’s been wrestling for a year with how to make a course correction and get into open water. The issue, as always, came down to the bottom line, and openness just plain made business sense. An open network attracts customers who bring their own hardware and software, and any problems are theirs, not Verizon’s. And it encourages the third-party development of a host of devices and programs that wouldn’t have enough mass appeal to balance the costs of internal development. McAdam said Google’s move helped goose Verizon’s transition process along: “Clearly the Android system gives a lot of developers the opportunity to develop applications for a wide range of handsets. … Android really facilitated this move.”
While Verizon Wireless is cozying up to Google here, their relationship remains complex. The two are likely to be competing bidders in the January auction of the “C-Block” of 700MHz radio spectrum. But compete-cooperate relationships are the nature of the open world, not a barrier, and what’s happening here can be very good for everyone. Now let’s see if Verizon walks the walk.
How is Verizon Wireless’s recent announcement noticeable? I can use any unlocked quad-band GSM phone on any GSM network and have been able to do this for years.
I suspect that Verizon has tumbled to the fact that it is a provider of Wireless communication bandwidth and NOT a phone retailer. Makes some business sense. By opening their market to any phone, they can concentrate on their wireless network. Actually, Microsoft ought to think about so-called “open source” philosophies. Then they could concentrate on their real business software which is Office.
Righteous, RedRat. Why build and maintain the product in the containers when you own the rails.
Wake me when Verizon Wireless start offering plans that make it economically equivalent to buy a phone and add service to it instead of buying from Verizon.
RedRat, you are inferring that Verizon will stop selling phones — I don’t think that this is a valid inference — at least in the short term.
Anon: No, I doubt that Verizon will stop selling phones but why take on that burden and its associated costs, when you really do not have to do it. Look, Verizon owns the bandwidth and that is what they do best, selling phones is what Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, Costco, Wal-Mart, etc do very well. Let them retail the phones and wireless plans. Verizon only has to sit back and let the money roll in.
To Stuart: MS ought to give up on operating systems. Windows has run its course and the recent iteration (Vista) is a pile of crap. Why not do what Apple did several years ago and base your system on Unix or Linux, an open source approach. MS Office can be their flagship software, they basically own the corporate world with it. When you own the rails, you have to maintain them and keep them up at no inconsiderable cost. Frankly, they are doing a lousy job of that, they may take a year to close a security hole, some have taken longer, and some have not been closed at all. So let the open source community do the grunt work at no cost, and put your efforts into MS Office.
If Google wins the C block they may very well partner with Verizon to operate the Network for them and sell spare capacity (spectrum) to them in key markets.
Jacomo