With their winning bid taking the vast majority of the Block C licences in the recently-completed 700MHz auction, Verizon’s support for open-access - which the carrier announced in November 2007 - seems something of a premonition.  As anyone who has followed the auction saga knows, Google pushed the FCC to include certain provisos about the winning network being obliged to offer access to any compatible device, and it’s Verizon who must now build that network and follow those clauses.  As promised, the carrier has revealed further details of their “Any Device, Any App” scheme, and at first glance it looks to have been relatively flexible - even in areas such as VoIP which could impact on Verizon’s own income.

Basically, both devices and applications will need to be submitted to Verizon’s engineers for “testing and certification”, a process which the carrier is saying could take up to eight weeks, after which - assuming it passes - the manufacturer or developer can market their handset, internet device or software as they choose.  Certification lasts for three years, at which point it must be re-examined, and developers will have the opportunity to bundle Verizon minutes or network data with the device/software that they can purchase from the carrier at wholesale cost.

Most interestingly, Verizon has said it will be permitting applications that offer alternatives to its own software offerings, whether that be VoIP, music or other media downloads.  However, they will monitor network traffic and reserve the right to throttle or otherwise control any service using up too much bandwidth.

Any Device, Any App will apparently launch in the second half of 2008, and Motorola, Toshiba and HP have already expressed an interest.  The key limitation in the eyes of many has been the CDMA nature of Verizon’s network, which differs from the majority of those in place elsewhere in the world. 

[via MobileBurn]