Dec 1, 2007 Verizon Wireless Thinks Clearly!

This week Verizon Wireless made two announcements that signal really well-aligned strategic thinking and longer vision than is normally associated with the mentality of publicly traded companies. They will begin opening their network for use by any telephone that a customer has . This allows for far greater hardware choice for consumers, and the potential for more innovation technologically. It's a brave and pioneering move in the US since all the other carriers are continuing to hamstring consumers by requiring purchase of their phones from the carrier. Only in the US is that done--the rest of the world can switch between networks or carriers by exchanging SIM cards. That gives them more hardware choice and more competition.

Along with the allowance of hardware on their network, they also plan to provide the source code for their network. That will create a forum for innovation beyond what the major electronics companies may be generating. New ideas can then be tried out and tested on the Verizon network, and the resulting innovations can be ready for market faster.

As a Verizon Wireless customer I'm delighted. If I was questioning my desire to remain with Verizon (for example, if I wanted to get an iPhone--which only work on At&T Cingular--a curious inversion of the US carrier lockout) those leanings are allayed.