Will cellphone carriers lock down phones so they can't use iTunes?
Yes, we're all very impressed that Apple and Motorola cut a deal to put iTunes onto cellphones, but it could all be for nothing if the wireless carriers, who wield an enormous amount of control over what software gets put onto most of the cellphones that get sold in this country (unless you buy an unlocked phone, that is), decide to prevent iTunes from coming pre-loaded on the phones they offer. Not surprisingly, they see wireless downloads directly to handsets as a potential cash cow, and so don't expect them to be thrilled about anything that circumvents that, like letting people use iTunes to transfer songs over from a computer. We'd recommend that you to just install iTunes on your phone yourself and tell the carriers to get bent, but the carriers are already working (or already have in some cases) on locking down smartphones so you can't install new applications on them yourself and instead have to do everything through them. Welcome to the future.
[Via TechDirt]
