As for the Verizon open movement, the company sees open as a marketing opportunity to add new subscribers, especially those who want to use any device and to add new applications, content, and services. One area it plans to pursue is machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, which let consumers perform a variety of remote monitoring and control applications.

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Verizon has a program for certifying new open products. This four-week process checks out the RF parameters and signal conformance. It also validates features. Once certified, the product is allowed. For more, go to www.verizonwireless-opendevelopment.com.

After lunch, Joseph Chen of GeoSpot, Andrew Graham of Bones in Motion, and Dan Lowden of Wayport discussed how the rise of location-aware services promises to bring new applications that will uniquely leverage the distinctive mobile characteristics of handsets. The idea of location-based services (LBSs) has been around a few years, but not much has come of it. Yet location technologies are available right now to implement new services.

GPS is booming, especially in personal navigation devices (PNDs). More and more cell phones have GPS embedded, and E911 services are already in play in most places. The assisted GPS system and the time delay of arrival (TDOA) system implemented at basestations are solving indoor problems with GPS, making location prediction fast and easy. Even other wireless techniques such as Wi-Fi are being used in more locally defined areas to implement location services.

Emerging LBSs include search with a local context, weather and unique content with context, geo tagging, social networking, and advertising. The advertising will try to be non-annoying and personalized.

Yoram Solomon of Texas Instruments was next with his discussion, titled “Unlocking Innovation in the Wireless Space.” He reminded everyone that the earth’s population totals nearly 6.7 billion, and cellular subscribers are approaching the 3.5 billion point with more than 1 billion new phones sold each year.

Forthcoming applications include mobile gaming, context-aware LBSs, increased social networking, and augmented reality, which is a combination of the real world plus Web content. Solomon also discussed the potential of M2M, which he saw as a huge new direction for the cellular carriers.

Solomon then went on to define open as he saw it, which includes open phones that work on any carrier’s network, open carrier platforms, and IP-based systems. Also, an open approach would be needed for M2M to be fully successful. Finally, he thought the delay and confusion in the open movement was the overlap of the various radio standards that come and go at different times.

The afternoon also saw a panel discussion on policy and regulation moderated by Katherine Farrell of the Federal Communications Bar Association, Texas chapter. Panelists included Meredith Attwell-Baker of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Wayne Caswell of CAZITech, Wallace Henderson of Tuggey Rosenthal Pauerstein Sandoloski Agather LLP (TRPSA), and Henry Rivera of Wiley Rein LLP.

Topics ranged all over, including broadband policy, use of the 700-MHz spectrum, new patent legislation, white spaces policy, net neutrality, and the transition to digital TV. A couple of critical issues emerged, including a hangup in tower approvals. More than 3200 tower applications are currently stuck in regulatory approval for various environmental and property reasons, stalling cellular expansion. This problem will be particularly troublesome for the forthcoming 700-MHz spectrum rollout. So far, no 700-MHz towers have been approved, and that’s a huge blow to the cellular industry.

Second, we were all reminded of how the U.S. is distant 16th in the world for broadband adoption. The government is the problem, the panel agreed, as it is trying to micromanage who does what and when. The panel also noted that the FCC should not choose who the broadband winners should be. Its members totally agreed that with a Democrat as president and a fully Democrat Congress, we could see far more regulation of the wireless space and a further slowdown in development.