
Yesterday’s biggest topic was the report that pegged Google as opening up the “Nexus” or lead device game to multiple manufacturers at a time. The plan, according to reports, is to have up to 5 devices (both tablets and phones) ready for the launch of Jelly Bean around Thanksgiving. When ready, they would sell these devices as “unlocked” directly to consumers through the Google Play store, similarly to what they are doing with the Galaxy Nexus today.
As soon as that report surfaced though, people started asking questions. The most important was probably, “Will Verizon ever see another Nexus?” Since all currently available unlocked devices run on GSM networks and Big Red uses CDMA, it’s a fair question. However, we brought up the idea that LTE is another animal altogether since we are seeing global LTE networks rollout that all use SIM cards for activation. Theoretically, you could buy another LTE device from another carrier and then drop in a Verizon LTE card and have data service, assuming it ran on the same 700MHz band and frequency. Again, theoretically.
Read More