In a stunning about face, Verizon Wireless announced today announced it would open up its network to outside handsets, devices and applications by the end of 2008, creating the first truly open cellular network in the North America. The announcement reverses the protectionist policy of what has been traditionally the most closed network in the U.S., potentially turning VZW into a pure network access provider, a role no other wireless provider has been willing take on.

Verizon Wireless officials said today the company will publish technical standards for the development community that will allow them to build devices and design applications that can interface with Verizon’s 3G network. The operator is building a $20 million “state-of-the-art” testing lab to certify those devices. Any product that meets the minimum technical requirements will be certified by the company, and its manufacturers will be free to sell it through outside channels.

“This is a transformation point in the 20-year history of mass market wireless devices–one which we believe will set the table for the next level of innovation and growth,” VZW CEO and president Lowell McAdam said in a statement. “Verizon Wireless is not changing our successful retail model, but rather adding an additional retail option for customers looking for a different wireless experience.”

At an analyst and press briefing today, McAdam said Verizon Wireless has reached the conclusion that it as a carrier cannot keep up with the pace of innovation in both devices and applications. VZW has traditionally tested and hand-selected applications for its customers, taking bets on what would be hits and what would be flops. While it will still continue to take that approach with the majority of its subscribers, it realizes there is a growing pool of subscribers who want to make their own decisions on devices and applications and merely want Verizon to connect them, McAdam said.

“Soon Verizon Wireless will not be able to meet every customer’s needs with our specific portfolio of devices and applications,” McAdam said. With those customers, VZW will take a hands-off approach, taking responsibility only for their connection to the CDMA network, not the data services they user over them, McAdam said. “What apps are downloaded to the device are the choice and the responsibility of the customer.”

VZW’s approach to devices and data services has always been one of intense, hands-on involvement. For most of its consumer data services, it individually certifies applications and phones and handles each content transaction over Qualcomm’s BREW platform. That approach has created one the industry’s most formidable walled gardens, virtually locking out the millions of content transaction from third-party developers and severely limiting the services customers can access with their phones.