Conceptually it's the reverse of the PC vs Mac personal computer early days. Cell phones came on the scene essentially locked like Mac's. Now as the tech has matured we get the PC style phone with the ability to pick up self pulg-in parts from a supplier.
If cell phone comm visa WiFi like republic.com is pioneering becomes the future. This concept may well take off because your biggest investment will be the phone and not the contract. Just like your home PC and your Internet provider is now. This could lead to an emergence of free open source cell phone OS in the spirit of Linux versus MS. I think Verizon is getting a good stock rating due to pushing a greater WiFi presence to facilitate cheaper access in the near future. It's why ATT and Sprint are being hit with stock short sells right now.
Yes I know a small percentage of tek-geeks can hack their phones and mount custom OS. My thought is to a broader customer base like MS and Linux has served in the home PC market.
