Now this is just getting crazy. Today AT&T announced that their cellphone network is going open – and they claim, completely open. Starting immediately you’ll be able to ditch your AT&T phone and use any device you want – and you don’t even have to sign a contract. There is of course one exception – and it’s a big one. The iPhone.

This move of course follows Verizon’s announcement last week that they were opening their network to any device that reached a “minimum” standard. AT&T appears to not have such expectations, they’ll let you use anything, anywhere, anytime, for as long as you want (you will, of course, still have to pay them each month).

On the iPhone however it appears the same old closed story:

AT&T has a deal with Apple to be the exclusive U.S. distributor for the next five years. To get the device, consumers must sign a two-year contract.

AT&T has no plans to change that arrangement, de la Vega says. “The iPhone is a very special, innovative case.”

That’s no good, but what did you expect? AT&T knows it has the absolute golden ticket for the cellphone industry with the iPhone – and apparently now even thinks that is all it really needs. The funny thing is that they might be right.

It’s amazing what Apple and Google have done to this industry in less than six months.

[UPDATE]: MarketWatch successfully called this exact move last week:

and AT&T is likely to be the next to announce some sort of openness decree.

…this coming despite just last week AT&T chief, Randall Stephenson called Verizon’s announcement “overblown”.

[UPDATE 2]: Both Engadget and mocoNews think this announcement is basically next to nothing as AT&T is on a GSM network, and so you technically could already use any unlocked device with your SIM card.

Still the ‘no contract’ thing would seem to be a big deal – as long as they mean you no longer have to sign up for one when your select AT&T as your carrier.