“Unlocked” devices on Verizon? Sounds weird, huh? But Verizon Wireless has been approving gadgets to run outside their normal service plans and sales channels for almost a year now, and they recently put out a handy guide to what’s coming out on their “open development initiative.”
One thing I noticed immediately is that the official list has no phones on it. That’s been Verizon’s plan all along – they don’t want Open Development cannibalizing or complicating their existing wireless phone business. Rather, they’re using it to expand into new industrial, corporate, or machine-to-machine markets that they couldn’t get into as easily before.
So what’s running on Verizon Wireless? Their list includes:
- The Telular Prophet wireless inventory telemetry device
- The Behavioral Intervention offender tracking wireless anklet
- The BlueTree 6000 series machine-to-machine wireless modems
- Digi Transport enterprise cellular routers
- The Ambient X-3000 modem for utility meters
- The CalAmp 882-EVDO cellular wireless router
Verizon Wireless seems to be so averse to the possibility that phones might be part of Open Development that they neglected to mention the $69 AirVoice phone shown by their own CEO this September (at left) on their official list. But that’s part of the initiative, too (though it doesn’t seem to show up on AirVoice’s own site.)
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