Verizon sets open developer conference

Verizon Wireless, preparing to open its network to devices it doesn’t sell, will tell developers how to build products to run on its network at a two-day conference in New York in March.

Late last year, the nation’s second-largest carrier announced it would let consumers use equipment from third parties as long as it meets minimum technical standards for operating safely on Verizon’s network. Verizon also said it would let them use any application on those devices. The move, expected by the end of this year, would represent a break from the traditionally closed networks of U.S. mobile operators. They typically sell phones themselves, with their own applications loaded, and only after dictating configurations and carrying out rigorous testing.

Verizon’s Open Development Conference, which will run March 19-20, will focus mostly on the requirements for devices that would run on the Verizon network, the company said. Verizon had said last year that it would publish technical standards for the developer community by early 2008. More information about the company’s open initiative can be found here.

Verizon’s move was widely seen as anticipating the openness requirements attached to a part of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s 700MHz spectrum auction, scheduled to begin later this month. Verizon is among the companies planning to bid on the prized frequencies, which are expected to reach longer distances and penetrate walls better than the cellular bands used in the U.S. today. Google, which has advocated more open networks, and Verizon rival AT&T also plan to participate. Sprint Nextel plans to turn to third-party vendors for devices to run on its WiMax high-speed mobile network, due to launch in April.