CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LII: AT&T CEO scoffs at Verizon's "Any Apps, Any Device" plan

Even 6 months ago, it would have been inconceivable to imagine the CEO of the biggest cellphone operator in the US sniping at its primary competitor's hints at becoming more open. The key point being that none of the cellphone operators in the US are actually "open" by any objective definition, so maybe AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson should have bitten his tongue rather than stating that his company is "probably one of the most open networks in the world," in a mild rebuke to Verizon's open network plan for 2008. Also Randall, stating that "all of the handsets we sell are Java-equipped" might be a little unwise considering that AT&T's flagship handset, and probably the most widely publicized handset (ever?) is clearly not. At least the debate is moving forward: hopefully his statement that "[all carriers] are all going to be open over time" will come to fruition with a little more gentle prodding coupled with the occasional kick up the arse.

[Image source]

[Python2121 @ Dec 1st 2007 7:01PM]

Funny/owned. Good post

[Aigarius @ Dec 1st 2007 7:15PM]

That AT&T CEO is either dumb or simply lying through his teeth - all cell phone networks in the world are more open then AT&T US. For example you can take any GSM device and use it on any European GSM network by simply inserting a SIM card from that network. A phone can be bound to a SIM card, but said SIM card will always work on other phones. The lockdown in USA is simply medieval.

[RC @ Dec 1st 2007 7:20PM]

You can get almost any phone unlocked for free and pop in the SIM card of your carrier and it will work.

If you all want to buy phones from AT&T without it being subsidized you better be ready to pay full retail for it.

[Jamar @ Dec 1st 2007 8:14PM]

You can...

But, the second argument against AT&T regarding subsidies is their absolutely crap subsidies. For what I paid monthly on AT&T ($40-50) before and a 2-year contract I could easily get a $500 phone free where I currently live. And that moves on a sliding scale so the more you spend the more you save. AT&T doesn't do that.

[Big Sam @ Dec 1st 2007 8:14PM]

RC is right. I used to switch my AT&T sim between my AT&T phone and an unlocked one. Both worked fine.

[Paul Reiber @ Dec 1st 2007 10:16PM]

It's really disturbing how clueless some people are about the history of things.

Here in the US we invested in a non-GSM infrastructure years and years before the Europeans eventually leveraged the clues we gave the world - which happened to be that it's a better idea to go the GSM route.

Now people are kvetching because we think of things before the rest of the world does?

Being a pioneer means taking the risk that you might, one day, be found lying face-down, with an arrow in your back.

I, for one, am proud of our tradition to get shot in the back. It means we're not looking behind us, but rather that we're focused on the future.

-Paul Reiber,
President, Silicon Valley Linux Users Group
http://svlug.org

[Brent @ Dec 1st 2007 9:11PM]

I'm pretty sick of the subsidy argument. The subsidies barely exist on anything high end, eBay is cheaper than the contract price. Sure you can get a free phone, but I'll never use a free phone again. I doubt many of us here will. But then what motivation is there not to take the subsidy? You can't get service without a contract anyway, and it's not like they give you a discount somewhere else for not taking their subsidy. Why? Because what they call a $200 subsidy is closer to $70. What everyone should be doing is buying the phone they want, taking the subsidy on whatever phone fetches the best eBay price and turning around and selling it there. But that just seems like a load of crap and a lot more work than one ought have to put in.

[lunkwill @ Dec 2nd 2007 5:18AM]

@Paul Reibe

What system are you thinking about here? From what I can find GSM actually preceded CDMA with a few years if you are talking about 2G networks. If you are talking about 1G networks NMT preceded AMPS by two years. 0G networks are a bit scattered over the early timeline but are hard to compare since some of them were very limited in almost all respects.

[xbit @ Dec 2nd 2007 8:09AM]

Errr.... Paul Reiber, you might want to check your facts. The "cell" phone was a British invention, originally used for a car-based virtual secretary service. American companies played a big role in the development of mobile phone technology but Europe has had analogue networks as long as the US. That's why Nokia is the biggest manufacturer and why Vodafone is the biggest multi-national carrier.

[Shahryar @ Dec 2nd 2007 1:50PM]

Brent's right. I think you're best off looking for the slickest deal you can find on a phone for signing a contract (I like going with the Windows Mobile deals on T-mobile phones - check slickdeals.net for more info), then selling the phone after signing the 1 year contract, and taking the money from the sale and buying the cell phone of your choice at the lowest price that can be found. To actually go into a store and sign a contract to get the phone you'd like (esp if you sign a 2 year contract - that last year they're making much more off of you), you're probably getting taken.

[lpskinz @ Dec 1st 2007 7:35PM]

Actually, if you a a customer of ATT for over 90/60 days (i'm not sure which) you can just call them up and they will help (walk you through ALL the steps) you unlock you phone for FREE. I have used the "going backpacking through Europe" as my excuse to unlock it.

[Alex @ Dec 2nd 2007 4:51AM]

if only the same can be said about the iphone...

[mushrooshi @ Dec 1st 2007 7:40PM]

These companies just want more money.

OT: Pic is HUGE OWNAGE!

[AndrewNeo @ Dec 1st 2007 8:06PM]

You're acting like AT&T made and handles everything (or anything, really) about the iPhone. Apple has tight reigns on it. AT&T just gets to say, 'Use us or no iPhone for you!' It's not like they really had a choice in putting Java on it or something.

[White_Pheonix @ Dec 1st 2007 10:03PM]

So? They still sell it, and it still doesn't support Java. Hence the statement that "all of the handsets they sell are Java-equipped" is false.

[iofthestorm @ Dec 1st 2007 10:11PM]

What does this have to do with the iPhone? AT&T and all other US carriers are the most locked down networks in the world, no one can argue against that and win.

[AndrewNeo @ Dec 1st 2007 10:18PM]

How the heck is AT&T locked down? I look at my Verizon piece of crap versus, well, any phone in the AT&T store. I can put Opera on one of their display models. That immediately makes it less locked down than mine.

[CB17 @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:40AM]

Thank you for you unbiasedness and truthfulness AndrewNeo

[Fernando @ Dec 1st 2007 8:14PM]

I lol'd at the pic

[sevenalive @ Dec 1st 2007 8:21PM]

At&t is more open on their phones than the verizon counterpart. I got a motorola slvr l7e (unlocked from overseas) I can do anything with it, put on firmware, disable, enabled features and completely mod it (modmymoto.com) - but thats all mostly on motorola's end because of the hardware.

Anyway before that i had a cingular locked slvr l7 with itunes. I could put my own music on there and have mp3 ringtones. My cousin has an lg from verizon, he has to use verizons music manager, and he cannot have his own mp3 ringtones, they make u buy them.

And don't say its lg's fault, its on verizons flex, if u guys mod cell phones you will know what i am talking about.

[Prokanda @ Dec 1st 2007 8:29PM]

well.. I've had suncom (old ATT in my area), sprint, verizon, and t-mobile. gsm carriers don't lock their phones down like CDMA carriers do, that's true. but you don't have to pay for ringers on verizon either. there's bitpim or a less tinker-intensive method of putting the MP3 in the my_sounds folder and then pic messaging that sound to yourself.

it's a little bit more of a pain, but if you're like most people on verizon's newer plans, you have unlimited texting (does it even count when it's to yourself? isn't that "IN"?).

I have the Voyager and it's my 7th phone (in just over 1 1/2 years) with verizon... and I've never paid for a ringer. 4 of these were regular non-WinMo phones. (all LG actually).

So, to say that CDMA carriers (especially verizon) lock things down is only partially true. I have many ringers that are the best quality MP3's you will ever hear, high quality full screen custom wallpapers, and I've never paid a single cent.

[sam @ Dec 1st 2007 8:49PM]

The yanks often (almost always?) use the word "world" when they refer to both east cost and west cost. Sometimes they also include the landmass in between. Widest definition includes parts of Canada, perhaps unintentionally.

[Paul Reiber @ Dec 1st 2007 10:34PM]

Uhuh...

Was it BT that cross-connected three quarters of the globe, well before the rest of the pack could even figure out what T3 stood for?

Bzzzzzt... we did that tea-party thing for a reason... :-)

-pbr, enjoying this way too much
http://reiber.org

[Paul in Maryland @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:40AM]

Sam, you've made my day! Your comment is spot-on...a fact I am currently feeling keenly as an American visiting London for the week.

[Jamar @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:35PM]

@ Paul Reiber- and AT&T did?

[Chris @ Dec 2nd 2007 4:44PM]

@ Jamar: No, but the US did.

[Michael @ Dec 1st 2007 9:04PM]

What's part LII? Is that some sort of l33t?

[Brent @ Dec 1st 2007 9:49PM]

Roman numerals, LII is 52.

[andy @ Dec 1st 2007 9:25PM]

Not that it will make a difference here, or that it will change; but I've always found the CE Oh no he didn't feature / headline to be one of the less recurring "headline" titles.

[Standingfast @ Dec 1st 2007 9:31PM]

Phoenix Wright! I love that game! ^_^

[Fruition @ Dec 1st 2007 10:06PM]

They used my name in the post!

[Fruition @ Dec 1st 2007 10:08PM]

No! I had a little emoticon heart, but I guess the filter took it away. Now I have to find another way to express my love...

Screw it, I'm just doing a smiley.

^_^

[zephead @ Dec 1st 2007 10:15PM]

In one way, AT&T shouldn't be saying they're so open when they're comparing themselves to the rest of the world, most of them with unlocked phones by default. But compare them to Verizon, and AT&T is definitely more open than them. (note: the following points exclude the iPhone) Not SIM-wise, but, as a few posters have mentioned, you can load your own stuff into the phone (music, ringtones, pics, apps, etc) w/o paying anything extra. There's also full Bluetooth functionality (object exchange, tethering, etc). Not to mention that they, for the most part, leave the individual companies' interfaces alone and don't replace all of them with a generic crappy UI.

[Nicky-Larson @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:03AM]

I lived in Europe before I got here and its been the worst cell phone experience ever.All the companies are very locked down. T-mobile phones, you cant send information through bluetooth unless you were going to make a call. Verizon, I don't even wanna go there. GOD knows that I hate their freaking UI,who the hell wants their interface all RED. I mean how do people cope with that? ATT ,given this incident with the iphone, I say that CEO is way off base . T-Mobile will not let you install opera mini on their phone,and if you do ,you can not use it. So ,when it comes to openess, they all have to point to each other ....... The system is messed up

[portorikan @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:37AM]

@Nicky-Larson

I've found Sprint open enough for me. Customer Service isn't the greatest, but they're no Verizon in terms of flexibility.

[VZWguy @ Dec 2nd 2007 1:03AM]

ATT is more open for several reasons
you can do whatever you want with yrou phone - firmware, software, anything you want, the only thing you are tied to is a SIM card with ATT. because of that as long as you get an unlocked phone you can do almost anything you want. ATT lets you get the firmware you wish and the stuff you want.

even when verizon will let you bring yrou own phone they will still charge you to flash the phone with thier UI, and then charge you for doing so. so if you bring a phone to them you boght off Ebay they will charge you to flash the UI and then you cna use it.

if verizon just let you bring anyphone you want and get it activated for free via an ESN change on thier website...then they would be like ATT, but as it stands they are more or less just open to letting people bring more handsets to thier network.

[CB17 @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:47AM]

So let me get this straight Conrad, you made an entire article out of the fact that ONE phone in ATT's inventory is locked down by the MANUFACTURER and subsequently the CEO's statement was [barely] wrong because of it. I'm just gonna give you the benefit of the doubt here since it's a Saturday and I'm sure it's a slow news day. Good thing I use Adblock Plus...

[CB17 @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:49AM]

Oh and you also said ATT isn't open, with nothing to back that up with and as you can see all the commenters also disagree with you (for obvious reasons)... I'm stickin with my slow news day comment...

[zephead @ Dec 2nd 2007 3:06AM]

Being an AT&T customer myself, VZWguy is right about only being tied to a SIM card. I've used mine in a couple different phones with no problems. However, I wasn't aware that AT&T would let you change firmwares, much less help you with doing so.

[Ricardo @ Dec 2nd 2007 6:14AM]

There is one thing, and one thing only that I really like about iPhone: it doesn't rely on an antique platform such as Java to run its applications.

That strategy alone may make Google's Android fail.

[SpeedRacer @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:37AM]

Oh God, here we go with the Java bashing againg!

Dude, it's just another application platform, and it works. Get over it.

[Joe @ Dec 3rd 2007 12:42PM]

I thought this comment humorous as well especially in light of the platform iPhone is based on--hint, it's older than Java.

[Joe @ Dec 3rd 2007 12:40PM]

What I find interesting is that the AT&T CEO was likely speaking from the perspective of cell phone technology where AT&T is indeed more open than any of its competitors in the US (a key point) yet many here mistakenly interpreted the comments in terms of software, perhaps because the meanings of the word "open" amongst the geek crowd.