Verizon Wireless’ New New Open Mantra: What It Means
Yes, we’re all shell-shocked. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless saw an opening, and took it, but what does it mean beyond VZW? That is, beyond the fact that you can’t use GSM phones (there goes my N95), including iPhone.
Dave Burstein, the editor of DSLPrime newsletter, penned down some quick thoughts on consumer implications…some extracts from his e-mail on the forward-looking possibilities: More after the jump…
1) Cut international calls down to 3 to 15 cents instead of the ridiculous 50 cents and $1 per minute they can cost. Special phones can do that today when you’re in a WiFi cloud, without any extra digits, etc. . (Truphone.com for a good example). You’ll be able to do that from anywhere with the a new phone.
2) Use any kind or size of screen (or keyboard) the companies can design.
3) Use the $25 wireless phones already popular in Asia and save some money.
4) Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) could easily make an iPhone if they wanted to. (Won’t work today because iPhone is GSM, not CDMA,)
5) Means anyone will be able to make a Google/Android phone easily (when the software works.) Think of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) coming in to compete with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and the kind of price wars we see between Sony, (NYSE: SNE) Nintendo, and Microsoft in games.
From a business perspective:
1) Carriers save lots of money if people buying their own phone.
2) The best most interesting new gear can come to market almost immediately, rather than the delay today typical because they have to sell the carriers. So the innovative companies will target Verizon with their first models.
3) Any honest regulator will be more open to anything that Verizon is asking, because they open things up.
Key questions:
– How much will they charge for the bandwidth? In particular, will they provide enough bandwidth for video at a reasonable rate? AT&T (NYSE: T) is selling nominally “unlimited” bandwidth for $20 additional with the iPhone.
– Can you take advantage of the Verizon video offering based on Qualcomm’s (NSDQ: QCOM) Mediaflo technology?
