PolicyBlog

I was at CES last week checking out (and sharing via Twitter as @CZ) at Verizon’s Developer Conference.  Admittedly, I get as excited as the next geek guy about the gadgets on display at the Consumer Electronics Show, especially the very cool devices related to wireless 4G. (Like portable and mobile HD video conferencing, tiny 4G modem chips, and photo/video sharing). But it’s important not to miss the forest among all these very cool trees.

Openness.

That is, in a word, what is going on here.

Verizon Wireless, when we obtained the 700mhz block of spectrum in 2007, understood the conditions policymakers put on its use.  Our deployment of LTE on that spectrum will be live in 25-30 cities and reach 100 million Americans by the end of this year and cover our current 3G network -- coast-to-coast -- in 2013. But hand-in-hand with these faster speeds on America’s most reliable network is the LTE ecosystem we are nurturing.

That open ecosystem can be seen throughout our business, all aimed to getting as many developers, devices, and applications working for -- and riding on -- our network.  Verizon Wireless is assertively looking for – and working with - the people and businesses that will develop the yet-unimagined devices or applications that will make LTE the game changer that we know it can be.

While in Las Vegas I asked Brian Higgins, executive director of ecosystem development for Verizon Wireless to address our responsibilities to openness and highlight some of the related programs and initiatives that don’t just invite but encourage.

I shot this on my Droid on the fly, so the lighting and steadiness leave much to be desired.  Here are some links to the programs he mentions in the video below and on PolicyBlogTV.

LTE Innovation Center

Verizon Developer Community

Open Development Initiative

4G Venture Forum.