Earlier this month, Apple rejected an application for the iPhone called Google Voice. The uproar set off a chain of events—Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt resigning from Apple’s board, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigating wireless open access and handset exclusivity—that may finally end the 135-year-old Alexander Graham Bell era. It’s about time.
Before Google gets too excited about open wireless access, it should look a little more closely at what did in AOL. The analogy is hardly perfect, but the new rules, promoted by Google, that will force Verizon to allow competitors to use its wireless network are in some way similar to those that forced phone companies to let rival Internet providers use their high-speed data services.
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