JohnG,
I'm not trying to be argumentative. I agree that BREW has a number of technological benefits, most of which benefit the carrier, and to a smaller extent, the app writer.
The simple fact of the matter is that VZ has not made available much of the BREW wonders that you mention. To date, you can download ringtones and bowling games. If you want an HTML browser, too bad. If you want a streaming real-time quotes applicaiton, too bad. I've heard all the QCOM presentations on the matter, and I'm not blaming their product. If you remember, when QCOM first announced BREW, they mentioned that one of the things that carriers wanted was control. The carriers wanted to control the user experience, be able to negotiate exclusivity with app developers, etc. BREW gives them that control. VZ alone decides what is made available to their BREW phones. A VZ customer does not have the option of surfing to the KDDI BREW store and pick from their offerings. My argument is that this control, while beneficial to VZ in its quest for differentiation, is to the detriment to the consumer. The consumer has no choice but to wait for VZ to offer what he wants.
BTW, the availability of Brew apps, even through VZ, appear to be dependent on what model handset one has, which I've often thought curious considering BREW's handset agnostic claims. |
