Well our friends at Verizon have certainly shocked the world by announcing plans for an open network by late 2008. Traditionally known as the most walled of walled gardens, Verizon’s decision is nothing short of shocking. To me, this seems like a clear survival tactic on the part of the U.S’s second largest carrier. The carrier has grown quite a reputation for having the worst handset selection amongst the major carriers, attributable to a very narrow-minded approach in its dealings with handset manufacturers.
There are many implications of this announcement, but since this is a GoLive! Mobile blog focusing on the mobile content industry I will focus on the one that impacts us the most — the imminent death of the BREW standard.
By opening the door for J2ME devices and developers to flood the Verizon network, Verizon is essentially saying goodbye to the BREW mobile applications standard which it has spent countless millions of dollars developing over the years.
Virtually all mobile apps are written in J2ME and then ported to BREW for Verizon support… which has been a very costly and annoying proposition for many a mobile app developer. With an abundance of J2ME devices set to launch on the VZ network next year, nobody will be paying these large sums to port to BREW anymore.
J2ME is in, BREW is out.
Posted by Asher Delug 
