1) Can I move my old Sprint or Helio phone—or get really crazy and bring a Korean CDMA phone—over to Verizon Wireless?
Sure, as long as they run on the same CDMA frequencies as Verizon's network—800 and 1900MHz, are the North American CDMA bands. After Verizon certifies a submitted model of handset or PDA, all you'll have to do is register it on Verizon's website (a process similar to iPhone registration). So porting your beloved Ocean or Mogul should be no problem.

Better yet, you'll be able to buy third-party stuff outside of Verizon stores and still get service: a lot of major players are extremely interested in the open network, including Toshiba, Ericsson, HP and Motorola among others. The whole thing starts in the "second half" of the year—hopefully sooner than December.

2) What can developers do now that they couldn't do before?
Developers can build devices and applications that run on Verizon's network without going through most of Verizon's red tape. As David McCarley, executive director of technology, said, "Anything that can take advantage of an IP address is in play." The specs for open devices are basically just industry standards with a few "Verizon supplements."

Though it's going to be hard for a dude in his garage to build the next wunderphone, a small company with mobile knowhow can develop and get their iPhone-killer certified and on Verizon's network with minimal interference. For a developer, certification takes four weeks, followed by four weeks of testing for a "best practices" sticker. Eight weeks is not very long.

3) What's the deal with applications? Is it really going to be "anything goes"?
Pretty much. Tony Lewis, VP of open development, told us, "We're not restricting any applications because we're not looking at them." That includes VoIP and P2P. Of course, he adds, Verizon is "always going to protect the network, so if something is a hog, we're gonna know the device is doing something." They won't look at packets, perhaps, but they'll count 'em.

Contrary to speculation, open devices won't be running in their own sandbox in the network—they'll be on the same ballfield as Verizon's own devices. So you really can run any app, but if you start crashing someone else's party, they're going to shut your shit down.

4) What's in all this free love for Verizon?
Tony Melone, Verizon's chief technical officer, told us that the open development platform is going to be a "substantial part of our business." But why? "We talk about a concept like Intel Inside. We want something like 'Verizon Wireless inside.'" They want to see people building devices that simply work with Verizon's network, and are labeled as such, the way today gadgets are identified as being compatible with Wi-Fi routers. The difference is, Verizon intends to be everywhere. And of course it will cost money to hop on. All of this openness means heavy subscription fees, naturally.

5) What about new networks, like the upcoming 4G network called LTE?
You might recall a small hullabaloo over Verizon's announcement that its 4G network was going to be LTE, which is a GSM-based network like AT&T's, and also like Verizon's European co-owner Vodafone. Melone says they chose LTE because "really believe LTE is going to be the VHS of 4G technologies." (Glad to see someone learning from all these format wars.)

Verizon's current CDMA and EV-DO network will stick around for quite a while as you might expect, even after Verizon achieves "significant penetration" with LTE in mid-2010, so there will actually be multiple networks. Devices developed with today's CDMA/EV-DO specs won't be dumped after Verizon makes the move to newer, faster hotness. And of course, the open policy will go for the fast LTE network as well.

6) Is this all really BS, or does it put Verizon on par or even ahead of the GSM carriers?
The move to opening the network is pretty genuine as far as we can tell in this preliminary stage. Of course, the pudding might taste different when it hits our plates, but we don't think they'll deviate too far from the recipe they're touting.

After all, GSM operators like AT&T and T-Mobile have always had a degree of openness. Verizon is in a way just catching up. When we ask how this is better than GSM, the standard reply is that Verizon's network is, technically speaking, more awesomer. There could be additional differences down the line, though, because Verizon is pushing open development in a huge way, and putting up an impressive amount of resources up to make it happen. Expect the same "openness" talk from AT&T in the coming weeks, however. Not so much out of the goodness of their hearts—this is just what it takes to survive in the new mobile world. [Verizon Wireless]

Whoa: They've got a massive disclaimer about the FCC's anti-collusion rule on the 700MHz auction, saying they can't talk about it. Translation: They won something.

Open Development New Customer Choice
Customers will have:
•Freedom to download their favorite apps
• Various payment options
•Can choose extent of relationship with Verizon:No "equipment contracts or early termination fees"

The timeline is impressively brisk: "Open for Business" by the second half of 2008, with a certification process in place by the end of this quarter.

They can't talk about enough about just how awesome Verizon's network is.

Hardware developers have a few ways to get their wares into your hands:

Retail Model: Developers on their own for advertising and distribution—Verizon will "activate" customers and get them onto the network "easily." They're also on the hook for most of the technical support. Data plans are totally separate from voice plans to accommodate data-only devices. Electronic bills only, no paper! Three pieces of hardware Verizon gives as "examples": Ruggedized PDA, digital camera with a wireless chip for transmitting photos from anywhere, and a gaming device.

Wholesale Model: Developer buys airtime and data plans from Verizon, then sells them to you. Electronic billing only. Example: Wireless home security (if case some enterprising thief cuts the phone line, it goes wireless).

Custom model coming later, for say, digital music devices. They're willing to offer up their 3 million song catalog. (!)

Certification for Developers: Simple enough: Build a device, submit it to Verizon for network certification, they send it back and the developer registers it.

Activation for You: You buy it at Best Buy or Wally World and activate it online. This is where they roadblock non-certified devices—if the serial number isn't on the certified list, it won't activate, and you can't take it on the network. If it's a wholesale deal, where you buy data from the devicemaker, they take care of all that for you. (Obviously.)

Verizon CTO on stage. Interesting, the IP-based "core network" will be the same even after it transitions to 4G—the shift to LTE is just changing RF. Promises to be really aggressive on 4G since their EV-DO push paid off.

Finally, The Specs and Certification
Requirements are layered from industry standards to Verizon Wireless-branded apps—open devices fall just above industry standards. "Specification is focused on essentials" for operating on the network without harming it. They'll go live today at 11:30am at their online portal for open development.

There will be a fee for certification but they promise it'll be quick—just 4 weeks. It's pass/fail only. The more devices you send in, the quicker it'll be certified.

They won't specify the user experience at all—no more ugly red UI! Hurray!

If your device uses multiple wireless standards, like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.—they're all got to run at the same time without going wonky. LNP compliance is a must.

The Cert Process and Requirements
911 and location-based services are required. Data-only devices have to pick up the CDMA-2000 network.


Yep, four weeks from submission to cert—not too shabby at all. Developers have to register with Verizon. Certification is not good for life. Devices have to be re-approved every 36 months.

If your radio module isn't FCC-approved already, "don't bring it to our labs." So the 4-week cert process DOES NOT include dealing w/ the FCC. "Bring to us quality devices ready to pass on the first go."

Whoa, hold it! Four weeks is for certification. After the four-week cert, then it has another two weeks of "infrastructure interop testing," like with Alcatel-Lucent, and then another two weeks of field interoperability testing. So you're looking at eight weeks of Verizon testing, really.

Talking about where they've seen potential for innovation, Verizon CEO mentions the 700Mhz spectrum. Yep, they probably won it.

And that's it for the keynote!

[Verizon Open Development]