I never did understand the media fanfare surrounding the open network claims by Verizon and AT&T recently because I could not see what the news item was. So on a fact finding mission ahead of the 'What will drive wireless innovation?' Panel which (so far) features:
I decided to ask around in case I was missing something. I put out a request here regarding Verizon and one here regarding AT&T (both of which I also copied to telecom mailing lists). I've also put out requests for a Verizon and an AT&T representative to appear on the panel but have not heard back. I also hold the door open to both Verizon and AT&T to publish onsite any response they see fit.
It is interesting to further note there is not a single Verizon or AT&T attendee registration (as yet). But there are strong T-Mobile USA registrations and lower Sprint registration to date. Verizon and AT&T are also not members of the Open Handset Alliance whilst T-Mobile and Sprint are. It is getting harder not to draw the conclusion that both Verizon and AT&T are not interested in helping foster the mobile handset as a platform for innovation and any use of the word "open" is to score corporate PR points only. But first let's give them time to respond.
- Jonathan Christensen, Skype (General Manager, Audio & Video)
- Rich Miner, Google (Group Manager, Wireless Platforms)
- Christopher Allen, iPhoneWebDev.com (Founder)
- Chris Sacca, (Angel Investor, former Head, Special Initiatives, Google)
- Paul Golding, paulgolding.com (Technologist)
- Benoit Schillings, Trolltech (now Nokia) (CTO)
I decided to ask around in case I was missing something. I put out a request here regarding Verizon and one here regarding AT&T (both of which I also copied to telecom mailing lists). I've also put out requests for a Verizon and an AT&T representative to appear on the panel but have not heard back. I also hold the door open to both Verizon and AT&T to publish onsite any response they see fit.
It is interesting to further note there is not a single Verizon or AT&T attendee registration (as yet). But there are strong T-Mobile USA registrations and lower Sprint registration to date. Verizon and AT&T are also not members of the Open Handset Alliance whilst T-Mobile and Sprint are. It is getting harder not to draw the conclusion that both Verizon and AT&T are not interested in helping foster the mobile handset as a platform for innovation and any use of the word "open" is to score corporate PR points only. But first let's give them time to respond.
