There are a lot of new mobile content applications out there, and I--being a greedy SOB--want to try them all out. Luckily, developers are more than willing to let me do just that. The catch is that every content or applications developer out there wants to send me a new demo phone to try out their new-fangled app, usually a Samsung BlackJack, a BlackBerry or some other fancy device. But when I ask them to ship the application over the air to my own phone, I usually encounter dead silence at the other end of the line.

I know what you’re thinking: I just want a bunch of free games, applications and multimedia that I can hoard forever. Well, believe it or not, there is some journalistic intent mixed in with my greediness, and I’m beginning to feel that the “my-phone-only” requests are becoming more reasonable. The problem, from the developers’ viewpoint, is that they either don’t support my device or they do support my device but I’m on the wrong carrier (though I often suspect they know the app is going to work a lot better on a fancy BlackJack than on my meager phone). At first these excuses seemed reasonable, but I’m no longer buying it.

In a few rare circumstances, such as multicast TV, corporate push e-mail or mobile music, a specific specialized device may be required, but if the end goal is proliferate mobile data services to a wide audience, then we don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing our devices. From what I’ve seen, vehicle navigation services are great mobile services, but if they can work only on a few smartphones, a lot of people aren’t going to buy them. And when you start having those same exclusivity problems with simpler apps, like messaging clients, games and even picture viewers, well we simply just don’t have a viable industry.

Trust me, developers, I understand your pain, and I know you have to deal with the whims of the carriers and handset makers to survive in this business. I know I also throw a few additional problems your way: I have an unlocked Sony-Ericsson phone on T-Mobile, which officially doesn’t support my phone model. But still I have an open EDGE data connection, Java, and I can go to whatever URL I’m directed to. T-Mobile may not support your app, and it may not sell my phone, but those are issues that ultimately need to be overcome as off-deck content sales become more prevalent and carriers open up their networks. That situation already exists in Europe and other parts of the world where sales are made directly to the consumer, and I doubt any content developer is writing off markets outside of the U.S. So no more excuses. We often complain about mobile networks being closed, but it often appears that developers are doing just as much to keep them closed as the carriers.

Contact me at kfitchard@telephonyonline.com.