Is being “open” the new black? Now AT&T — jealous of all the free publicity that Verizon has gotten for opening up its network to any mobile device — is trying to get some mileage out of the idea too, by telling USA Today that it is more open than anyone else (unless you want to take your iPhone somewhere else, of course — they’re still pretty closed to that).
Of course, as Ryan Block at Engadget and Rafat Ali at MocoNews and Mike Masnick at Techdirt point out, the carrier hasn’t done anything to become more open; all it is referring to is the fact that GSM phones have a personal SIM card that can be taken out and put in any other phone (including an iPhone, as many Canadians have discovered to their delight), and that handset can then be used on the network. Presto — open. Nice try, AT&T.