When news broke earlier this week that Verizon Wireless had decided to open its network (perhaps to counter the threat from Google), mobile marketers rejoiced. Find out why.

When Joe Bayen, CEO for wireless marketing specialist ICS Mobile pitches a client, he dreads one question:

What is your market coverage?

It's a fair question, but one that Bayen hates to answer.

"Everyone but Verizon," Bayen tells his customers. 

But those words may soon be gone from Bayen's lexicon because Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. carrier, recently said it would open up its network. That change could be a huge win for consumers, who will be able to bring any phone or third-party application to Verizon's network, something that is impossible under the current system. But the news is also music to marketers' ears, who believe mobile's day has finally come.

Verizon's decision to open its network to off-deck applications -- perhaps in response to Google's announcement of Android and calls for greater interoperability -- changes the game for marketers like Bayen.

"It means that our target market pool will effectively be extended by 25 percent, which roughly represents Verizon's market share," Bayen says.

But it's not just reach that has Bayen excited. He points out that viral campaigns that have traditionally hit a roadblock in the form of the "Verizon Firewall" will now be able to ripple through the mobile web in much the same way that online marketers see their efforts -- when successful -- ignite a firestorm of activity with users freely spreading the sponsored word.

Although mobile marketing has drawn praise for its ability to connect with users, critics of the medium point out the nagging scale problem, with less than 15 percent of Americans using their handsets to surf the web. But Verizon's announcement means wireless may no longer be a medium saddled with talk of distant promises.

"The open network has the potential to very quickly make the mobile web surpass the traditional web in terms of reach and revenue-generating potential for content providers and marketers," says Eswar Priyadarshan, CTO of Quattro Wireless. "The developer community has long had tons of great ideas for truly mobile functionality in terms of community, multimedia and enterprise applications that have been unable to get off the ground because of the traditional wireless closed-network obstacles."

Priyadarshan says he expects a resurgence in ideas for wireless applications to rocket the mobile past the traditional web because users will flock to more functional environment.

But…
While a lot has changed in the mobile world in the past few days, there is, it seems, a catch. The explosion of applications, the onslaught of users and the reduced costs for marketers that Priyadarshan sees resulting from Verizon's announcement hinge on the extent to which the carrier lives up to its recent promise.

Jan Dawson, VP of U.S. enterprise practice at Ovum says Verizon's motivation for opening its network has more to do with the carrier positing itself to bid in the FCC's upcoming spectrum auction. Earlier this year Google ruffled carrier feathers when it said it would bid on the spectrum if the FCC mandated that the winner allow open access to its competitors at wholesale prices.

"The announcement is something of a surprise, coming as it does from a company which opposed Google's attempts to have open access provisions attached to the forthcoming 700MHz spectrum auctions," Dawson says. "Verizon's senior leadership team denied on a Tuesday call that this move has anything to do with Google or the spectrum auction, but presumably struggled to keep a straight face while doing so."

That doubt was shared by Washington Post columnist Rob Pegoraro, who expressed surprise that the "control-freak carrier" would open the flood gates.

While doubt over Verizon's sincerity may linger, Pegoraro says the carrier's announcement seems to be real. Ditto for Priyadarshan, who says he's reasonably bullish about an end to mobile barriers.

"Everything I have heard from the carriers as well as Google is that they absolutely believe that they have to be far more open in order to truly monetize their infrastructure investment in high speed networks and devices," Priyadarshan says.

For those like Priyadarshan and Bayen, that means mobile is no longer coming; it's finally here. 

Michael Estrin is associate editor, iMedia Communications, Inc. Read full bio.