Following the Open Handset Alliance getting official, we noted the conspicuous absence of the US’s two biggest wireless carriers, and dissected some of the reasons T-Mobile and Sprint were onboard but they weren’t. According to the WSJ, Verizon’s still mulling joining up, while AT&T “in part because it exclusively carries the iPhone in the U.S., is restricted from partnering with Google, people familiar with the matter say.”
https://gizmodo.com/gphone-is-official-a-software-platform-for-cellphones-318862
Another niggling issue for the juggernaut pair is Google’s probable bid for wireless spectrum in the FCC’s upcoming 700Mhz auction. If it winds up turning up its chunk into a mobile network, it’d be pulling a Microsoft by competing and partnering with them simultaneously, which apparently they don’t take too kindly to.
https://gizmodo.com/fcc-keeps-open-access-provisions-for-700mhz-auction-de-308923
Of course, this is on top of all the other reasons they weren’t exactly clamoring to jump aboard in the first place. [WSJ]
