In a blog post adapted from a letter to U.S. government officials, BlackBerry CEO John Chen encourages support for net neutrality and application/content neutrality.
Chen touts BlackBerry's opening of the BBM service to iOS and Android platforms and the release of BES12 mobile device management software which is designed to manage devices that run on various platforms.
He takes issue with Apple for not making iMessage available on anything but iOS and Netflix for not making its service available to BlackBerry users.
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Unfortunately, not all content and applications providers have embraced openness and neutrality. Unlike BlackBerry, which allows iPhone users to download and use our BBM service, Apple does not allow BlackBerry or Android users to download Apple’s iMessage messaging service. Netflix, which has forcefully advocated for carrier neutrality, has discriminated against BlackBerry customers by refusing to make its streaming movie service available to them. Many other applications providers similarly offer service only to iPhone and Android users. This dynamic has created a two-tiered wireless broadband ecosystem, in which iPhone and Android users are able to access far more content and applications than customers using devices running other operating systems. These are precisely the sort of discriminatory practices that neutrality advocates have criticized at the carrier level.
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Chen goes on to say that "neutrality must be mandated at the application and content layer if we truly want a free, open and non-discriminatory internet. All wireless broadband customers must have the ability to access any lawful applications and content they choose, and applications/content providers must be prohibited from discriminating based on the customer’s mobile operating system."
What do you think of Chen's perspective? Do you think companies should be forced to develop products that are compatible with competing platforms? Let us know in the comments.
You can read Chen's full blog post at the link below...
Read More
Chen touts BlackBerry's opening of the BBM service to iOS and Android platforms and the release of BES12 mobile device management software which is designed to manage devices that run on various platforms.
He takes issue with Apple for not making iMessage available on anything but iOS and Netflix for not making its service available to BlackBerry users.
----
Unfortunately, not all content and applications providers have embraced openness and neutrality. Unlike BlackBerry, which allows iPhone users to download and use our BBM service, Apple does not allow BlackBerry or Android users to download Apple’s iMessage messaging service. Netflix, which has forcefully advocated for carrier neutrality, has discriminated against BlackBerry customers by refusing to make its streaming movie service available to them. Many other applications providers similarly offer service only to iPhone and Android users. This dynamic has created a two-tiered wireless broadband ecosystem, in which iPhone and Android users are able to access far more content and applications than customers using devices running other operating systems. These are precisely the sort of discriminatory practices that neutrality advocates have criticized at the carrier level.
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Chen goes on to say that "neutrality must be mandated at the application and content layer if we truly want a free, open and non-discriminatory internet. All wireless broadband customers must have the ability to access any lawful applications and content they choose, and applications/content providers must be prohibited from discriminating based on the customer’s mobile operating system."
What do you think of Chen's perspective? Do you think companies should be forced to develop products that are compatible with competing platforms? Let us know in the comments.
You can read Chen's full blog post at the link below...
Read More