“Open” is the word of the day here in the Pipeline newsroom. With Verizon’s announcement to supposedly open its network and AT&T’s excitement to jump on the bandwagon, along with Google’s push for open software, we're seeing that four-letter “O” word everywhere. There was a lot of news this month regarding wireless services and their providers, as well as a bit of the usual. Enjoy your very first OSS NewsWatch of the year and keep reading in the months to come. There’s sure to be plenty of interesting events in 2008.

Verizon has certainly had an interesting end to 2007. First of all, Vonage has been ordered to pay $117.5 million under the terms of the infamous patent dispute settlement. That certainly won’t be an unwelcome addition to Verizon’s coffers, although Verizon seems to be doing quite well on its own. A recent announcement says that Verizon Wireless is collaborating with mobile network operator Vodafone, which has a presence in 25 countries, in an effort that is “aimed at giving select business customers an enhanced global communications experience.” In another attempt at growth, Verizon’s Business unit is planning to build 2,000 miles of ULH (Ultra Long-Haul) network in various parts of Europe in order to keep up with what Verizon believes is a demand for high-bandwidth services. In the hopes of growing its business in the United States, Verizon is giving away free 19-inch HDTV’s in states such as New Jersey, New York, and parts of Connecticut to customers who sign up for it's triple play services. HDTV’s are certainly more likely to draw in more new customers than would, say, a coffee mug or even a month of free service. And, last but not least, Verizon has decided to open its wireless network for customers to use any type of mobile device that they darn well please, although there are still some questions that Verizon hasn’t answered yet, such as how much such the service will cost customers in the long run, or how customers who don’t use CDMA devices will be able to use the Verizon service. Also, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has also made it clear that Verizon supports Google’s plan to write its own software for its forth-coming Android mobile device. These are all bold moves for a company with so much presence and, chances are, Verizon’s competitors will feel like they need to follow up with some bold, if not similar, moves of their own.

On that note, Google may have offended Sun. Google has written its own software called “Dalvik” that seems to be able to skirt the traditional Java Micro Edition way of running Java applications. Some opponents are claiming that Google did it to avoid licensing fees while mobile software developer Hari Gottipati speculates that if Google had just asked nicely, Sun would have waived the licensing fee and allowed Google to use the JME for its Android phones.