I’m not sure any company has made quite the 180 Verizon has in such a short amount of time. Over the course of the past couple months or so they’ve gone from suing to stop the FCC open spectrum auction (to stop Google from getting it), to entering talks with Google about a potential partnership of some sort, to having Google announce the Open Handset Alliance (Android) and not being on board, to saying they’re going to completely open up their network to any device deemed compatible, to being one of Google’s likely main rivals in the open spectrum bidding, to refusing to say if they would bid on the spectrum despite most of the other major players announcing their intentions, to today saying now they plan on supporting Google’s Android. Woo. I’m spinning.

While these recent turn of events seem like great news, I can’t help but wonder what on Earth is going on over a Verizon to cause such a sudden, sharp turn-around in policy. Did they acquire a crystal ball and realize they were probably staring at their own demise 10 years down the road if they stayed on their current course? Maybe there was an internal power struggle? Maybe this is all just a facade for the public (as quite a few have suggested).

I’m cautiously optimistic, but skeptical. Intentions will hopefully become more clear once the auction actually takes place next month…