[Vincent Ferrari]

http://gigaom.com/2009/07/13/verizo...ou-hear-me-now/

"And while Verizon is romancing developers, the carrier isn't as solicitous of its handset partners. Verizon's Ryan Hughes, VP Partner Management, said in an interview Friday that the network operator's app store will be the sole marketplace on devices sold by the company, meaning stores such as Research In Motion's BlackBerry App World or Microsoft's Windows Mobile Marketplace won't get placement on Verizon handsets unless a consumer downloads them. Hughes also said that Verizon is focusing on aggregating content from four different developer communities: Windows Mobile, Palm, Android and BlackBerry."

It continues to amaze me how little reaction these sorts of things elicit when other carriers do them.  AT&T is constantly being derided for taking too much control over the user experience with the iPhone and yet here is Verizon pretty much taking an even bigger level control over their own handsets.  Everyone wants a Verizon iPhone so they can get off AT&T and use the much "friendlier" network.  Face it, folks.  Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint...  They're all the same.

[Vincent Ferrari]

http://gigaom.com/2009/07/13/verizo...ou-hear-me-now/

"And while Verizon is romancing developers, the carrier isn't as solicitous of its handset partners. Verizon's Ryan Hughes, VP Partner Management, said in an interview Friday that the network operator's app store will be the sole marketplace on devices sold by the company, meaning stores such as Research In Motion's BlackBerry App World or Microsoft's Windows Mobile Marketplace won't get placement on Verizon handsets unless a consumer downloads them. Hughes also said that Verizon is focusing on aggregating content from four different developer communities: Windows Mobile, Palm, Android and BlackBerry."

It continues to amaze me how little reaction these sorts of things elicit when other carriers do them.  AT&T is constantly being derided for taking too much control over the user experience with the iPhone and yet here is Verizon pretty much taking an even bigger level control over their own handsets.  Everyone wants a Verizon iPhone so they can get off AT&T and use the much "friendlier" network.  Face it, folks.  Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint...  They're all the same.

[Janak Parekh]

The other important consideration here: if Verizon holds on this, we'll never see an iPhone on Verizon, period. Apple won't yield control over their App Store.

--janak

[doogald]

Yes, I am so darned happy that I can finally get AT&T coverage at the house and can leave Verizon once and for all this winter. I do have to say that I have never had a billing problem, and have had nothing but the best consumer and tech support from VZW, but I hate being kept in Verizon technology prison (their past Bluetooth policy, the fact that my wimpy 1 MP camera is not allowed to send these attachments via MMS unless I switch to 640 x 480, crappy tethering software for the Mac that never works, etc.)