Tikkabik

I've been a Verizon Wireless customer since last fall after two and a half very unhappy years with AT&T Wireless, and I have been mostly satisfied. But there's one aspect of Verizon I really dislike, and that's their insistence on controlling almost everything that goes in and out of my phone and charging me for it.

It is a trend in the cell phone market that I see holding up the implementation of new features and technology, and it's disturbing.

Recently Motorola's introduction of a phone that supports Apple's iTunes Music Store seems to have been delayed. While there are conflicting reports about why it happened exactly, some reports have said that it's because the service providers are trying to figure out a way to get a cut of the action. As a Verizon Wireless customer, I wouldn't be surprised.

My LG VX6000 phone can take pictures, surf the web, play custom ringtones, use special wallpaper and so on -- but most of these features I can only access if I pay Verizon Wireless an added fee on top of what I'm already charged every month.

So I guess it's not surprising that Verizon has essentially cripped the one telephone it sells with Bluetooth support -- its Motorola V710 model -- in such a way that I can't make it synchronize data with a Bluetooth-equipped Mac or PC. Again, Verizon wants a piece of the action, and cutting them out of the loop on Bluetooth data sync would make it possible for users to upload wallpapers, ring tones, and other custom stuff to their phones without paying anything additional to Verizon.

It's apparent that "smartphones" are the big trend right now in personal information appliances, but will that hold up if service providers nickel and dime their customers for every new feature? Hopefully the providers won't kill the goose that laid the golden egg, stifling the growth of this technology as they seek to put a stranglehold on any potential profit.