Verizon scored big PR points yesterday by announcing that customers will be able to use any device on its wireless network. What's more, you'll be able to download any application to those devices. Investors didn't seem too impressed by the news: the company's share price barely moved and closed at $41.46.
The announcement sounds revolutionary, but there are some huge red flags to note. First, the "any apps, any device" mentioned in Verizon's press release is a joke. That's because Verizon's network works with phones that use CDMA technologies. Apple's iPhone and a lot of other devices run on different technologies, and it's unlikely they can be tweaked for CDMA.
Another big question: Phone carriers heavily discount cell phones (in many cases giving them away) and make up the loss in monthly service fees. If you're going to buy your own phone and bring it over to Verizon's network, you won't get that discount. Will people pay hundreds of dollars for a phone just to use Verizon? Will manufacturers see such value in this that they start making CDMA phones specifically for Verizon's network?
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