I've been with Verizon Wireless for 8 years now, having left Cingular (now AT&T) due to crappy coverage (and, yet, AT&T still has crappy coverage, go figure). During that time, I've upgraded my cell phone 4 times. My latest cell phone is the Blackberry Curve 8330. For the most part, it works fine.
However, I recently noticed that new apps had shown up on my phone. Apps that weren't there 6 months ago. Apps I don't want. Apps like: V CAST Apps, Bing, Slacker Radio, Backup Assistant and Skype. I have nothing against Skype or Slacker Radio but the others I truly dislike. And I don't even use any of them on my Blackberry. Plus I have other devices for music (iPod) and other methods to communicate with people who are far away for free (SMS, BBM, Skype for Windows/Mac).
So I do what a normal geek does, with programs I don't want; I uninstall them. But they come back. So I delete them again. And they come back again. So I go to Verizon's website to determine how I can prevent these from getting reloaded, AT RANDOM, onto my phone. Verizon's official stance on these programs are that they are there to "enhance the Verizon Wireless customer's experience". Umm, not.
So, here I am... with a device that keeps having programs installed on it, without my permission or desire and without any choice in the matter. This is called MALWARE on the Windows platform. And if I use Verizon's Usage Controls to block access to just V CAST Apps, it'll cost me $4.95 per month (!!!). That's called SCAREWARE on the Windows platform. What are they thinking??!?
Fortunately, I'm due for my New-Every-2 phone upgrade discount. And this time I'll get an Android-based phone. Which I'll probably then "root" for the expressed purpose of blocking these forms of malware/scareware from being installed on my phone.
And, yes, the iPhone (on AT&T) doesn't have this problem. But I'd bet the gross national income of *ANY* country that, when the iPhone does actually come to Verizon Wireless, it'll get this crap pushed onto it too.
Boo hiss, Verizon Wireless. Boo hiss.
UPDATE (1/15/11) - Got the Motorola Droid X and the battery life was very bad (6-8 hours per full charge). Rooted it and removed all of the pre-installed Verizon "apps". Now I have no Verizon "apps" on my phone and my battery life has tripled (18-24 hours per full charge). Further proof (to me) that Verizon's "apps" crippled my phone.
