You may remember our announcement in January rejoicing with the rest of America that Verizon now carries the iPhone! Well it turns out that the nation’s largest carrier might have nailed their own foot to the floor. In 2008, Verizon accepted the contingencies that were attached to the wireless spectrum offered by the FCC in which they spent $4.7BIL. Their plan was to continue building out their 4G network, but here’s where the nail comes into play. This spectrum must be used with “open access.” This mean that the carrier is required to allow the use of any hardware or software on the mobile device. Our dear friends at Google requested that the 700Mhz spectrum remain open access as to not hamper business. Google was in the bidding war with Verizon. Their plan was to create an open network that would allow a consumer to buy any phone that met open standards with no interference by a carrier. Verizon fought this but did not win. While Verizon did win the bidding war, Google’s open access request was also honored. This decision eliminates the use of the iPhone which is clearly locked down by Apple’s design and which runs applications only approved by Apple.
In the meantime, Verizon continues to offer its LTE network (a form of 4G) that currently only supports Android phones. While AT&T had their exclusive contract with Apple, this network move allowed Verizon to buddy up with Google. So while the two giants have differing opinions on what “open access” means, Verizon users will have to get their iPhones without 4G for the foreseeable future. Apple is known for maintaining control over their products. So don’t expect them to change their hardware just for Verizon until they can figure out their 4G network issues.