On the Crackberry.com website there is a thread about this same subject, there are a couple of posts that people havve made referenceing documents/news reports that they have found.
1) is that VZW and MS signed some exclusivity contract. Which means that this will be a no win situation. Has anyone actually seen MS hurt in court? They just keep it tied up in court in appeals and continue doing whatever they want.
2) people calling/contacting VZW get the story that this is wholely a RIM thing, which I do not beleive, since I know that VZW requires all of their phones, whether it be a Motorola, BB, Nokia or whatever software be written to their specifications.
How many people remember a few years ago when the GPS chips in cell phones became popular? AT&T and Sprint phones had open access for mapping apps to take advantage of it. VZW on the other hand you were restricted to VZW Navigator and a single or monthly usage fee for the service. Only in the last couple years has that changed.
But now VZW is taking lessons from MS. They are doing what they want everyone be damned. How many VZW apps/icons for apps came on your phone? If you dont want that particular feature you just uninstall it right? No, VZW has locked it leaving you no option other then to hide it. Personnally I would like the space back and be able to remove the worthless stuff, and add what I want.
But the only winner in this battle is going to be the lawyers.
Soap Box: for those of you that follow the VZW forum area for BlackBerry devices, surf over to Crackberry.com. Yes you have to register but it is at no cost. And if you wil take the time to read through the website, and forum sections they it will provide better Tech support then VZW will ever be capable of. Check them out, they really are great folks.
If you wish to demonstrate your disapproval, boycott Bing--not just on the phones but on your regular computers as well. And let Verizon know that you're doing so. I'm not using Bing as long as the browser default remains the same.
Thanks! Now my crappy Storm 2 is even crappier.
Verizon needs to realize by pushing this on their customers without notification and without a published addendum to their contracts that they are in a bit or a legal issue. Not to mention the antitrust implications of this is the breach of contract by changing service standards without notification. I will gladly join anyone who wants to start a classaction suit against Verizon, to show them that the customer is really the boss.
Also remember that you purchased the phone with one set of functionality on it, and Verizon, without your permission decreased that functionality *after the sale of the device*.
State Attorney General offices *exist* for this kind of consumer protection.
I would suggest that everyone, hopefully from all 50 states contact their State Attorney General's Office and file a consumer proteciton complaint on this matter.
Having the Attorney Generals Office of 50 states breathing down their necks will accomplish a lot more than a single "Class Action" lawsuits. Keep in mind, the Attorney General's office can require compensation to victims, and THEY don't take a percentage of the "damages" (Look at what Microsoft had to refund to every resident in the state of Iowa for every copy of almost every Microsoft product purchased in the state over a multi year period.) The AG's office also has the authority to prevent a company from doing business in the state.
Unfortunately I can not get involved since Android devices apparenlty are not affected.
If you happen to live in the State of Iowa, here is a link to the AG's office where you can file an online complaint.
http://www.iowa.gov/government/ag/file_complaint/index.html
The VZW support person I contacted tried to remove it for me. No luck. He suggested I file a complaint using the "Contact Support" website.
I was going to file with the FTC and the State A.G. but I read the "Services Agreement" first, we need to file our complaint properly with VZW BEFORE going to the State AGs...
Here's what I sent:
"You have pushed the "Bing" search function to my Storm and removed the Yahoo, Wikipedia, and Google search options from the Browser which I purchased with those functions, without my permission decreasing that functionality *after the sale of the device*.
I want those functions restored to my phone immediately. I expect a resolution of this issue within 5 business days after which I will be filing a complaint with the US Consumer Protection Agency and the Colorado Attorney General's Consumer Affairs offices."
We'll see what they say.
This is ridiculous Verizon and Microsoft! I even work for a telco but why can't this business ever learn to stop restricting its customers?
I believe that if everyone took the stance below it will make a difference and quickly.
No Bing for me now even though I was beginning to become a fan and no additional Verizon addons/products/apps until I hear that this situation has been remedied in favor of options to the customer.
So is this only happening with certian people? Just wondering because mine is still showing all the other search options.
Arthomis wrote:So is this only happening with certian people? Just wondering because mine is still showing all the other search options.
Hide the BING icon and don't install it and you will be fine. As for those who installed it, have you tried uninstalling Bing? If not grab another OS online and reinstall. 419 is available out there.
If you would read the entire thread you would see that we are not talking about the bing app that VZW pushed out. What everyone is talking about is the search window in the BlackBerry browser where you used to be able to set Google, Wikipedia, or a couple of others.
VZW is in the process of pushing out service books to BB's removing our choice of search engine and only allowing us to use bing, unless we navigate to Google, or install and app that takes us to Google.
Now I know that there are people that like bing, hey great for them, and I am glad to see they have that option available to them. Personally I have never gotten any usable results from bing, compared to Google.
Everyone's post/complaint is passed on our constitutional right to be able to choose, and not have our government or corporate base make our decisions for us.
Now if Google has or had come out and said they no longer were going to allow RIM to have Google listed as an available default search engine, that is one thing, but VZW and MS striking a monetary contract to infringe on my right that is different.
For those of you that think this is all about people just wanking, I am glad you are willing to give up your constitutional rights of choice, but don't infringe on mine.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
