Lame.

USA Yesterday

i wonder if usa today would still be in business without it's 'lowest common denominator' hotel distribution?

"You could take any unlocked GSM phone and use it on AT&T since...forever."

x2,000,000. I'd been using unlocked nokias for at least four years before the iPhone came out, I'm with you guys, wtf.

@Aaron Stein:
they really do need to put better papers in hotels. I would love to wake up, open the door to my room and find a copy of the NY Times sitting on my doorstep.

What is it with the mainstream media?? You would think they would hire some competitent people who actually kept up with technology and current events as much as they are aware of business and what sweater Paris bought that overpriced mut of hers.

Oh, wait, guess it's not just technology they're clueless about, politics, foreign events, what everyday Joe wants and why he wants it....

Sorry folks, cynical rant is over. God I need to move out of LA, the insanity, it's starting to get to me LOL!!

@Sir_NightSky: You'll never escape the insanity of big media...you can run but you can't hide!

@Sir_NightSky: SIR_NIGHTSKY, not to be confused with the original Nightsky.

It almost read like an article from the Onion!

But I got a little dose of reality when I read the comments on NYtimes.com when Verizon announced their open network thing. Seriously most people don't really know these things. I think it was actually smart for AT&T to put this out there.

@Sir_NightSky: You don't remember circuits, the embarrassingly out of touch and thankfully short-lived New York times column?

Circuits discovers USB: [gizmodo.com]
Circuits discovers the iPod Shuffle: [gizmodo.com]

and so on until the column's demise: [gizmodo.com]

I posted my two cents on the USA Today site for the idiocy of the reporter for that article. I would write her and the editor, but whats the point. If she doesn't know anything about technology, I seriousily doubt her boss does either.

You think Verizon is any different? Just because they say they're going to open their network doesn't mean they will. Everyone is mastering the art of spin. They've finally realize that talks is CHEAP.

The problem has been that the carriers sell their phones locked... not the other way around.

Some of the carriers sell phones unlocked... which is great... (after all, they have you locked into a contract for service anyway, why should they care if you resell the phone?)

-

Some of the carriers will give you the unlock code after 1 or 2 years... kind of a rotten move...

-

Some of the carriers will refuse to unlock the phone you bought from them... EVER. Those carriers are the worst bastards. So even if I have an old phone that I'm not using anymore, I can't give it to my mom as a backup or slip a SIM into it in an emergency when my regular phone malfunctions, if I've changed carriers.

VZ & AT&T cannot support the "any-device" model right now. So anyone saying anything about being open is just posturing.
This is just the market dictating to these companies that they need to be open enough to be able to support any killer device in the future.
Other than the iPhone, as a carrier I really would not care which platform wins out, I would just want to be able to jump on that craze quickly. They'll be open, just not $free.
This is still a win-win for the consumer though.

@Convergent_Punk: What do you mean they can't support the "any-device" model? It's easy:

- You don't offer the phone for sale in your stores
- You don't offer tech support
- All you offer is minutes and/or data

What's so difficult about that? Any CDMA phone running on the same spectrum as Verizon, all they have to do is certify it and let you turn it on. It's even easier for AT&T; just put a SIM card in it and go.

I'm not understanding what you mean at all.