David Hattey, CEO of FirstHand Technologies points out in an opinion piece on CNET that US mobile network operators may be opening up their phones to third party applications. He cites two announcements from last November: Apple’s announcement of an SDK for the iPhone, and Verizon’s “Any Apps, Any device” announcement.
This point was echoed in the New York Times article on the 700MHz spectrum auction that I wrote about earlier today:
The new rules have already begun to reshape the rapidly emerging wireless broadband industry. It prompted Verizon and AT&T to change their policies and open their networks to new applications and devices, just as Google and its allies had hoped.
“The issue has melted away,†Mr. Martin said. “It is no longer as controversial, as the major providers have moved to open up their networks.â€