If you read this article…

Why The FCC Wants To Smash Open The iPhone

…there is a paragraph that is painfully obvious:

Today there are two different sets of rules for applications and devices on the Internet. On the wired Internet, we can connect any type of PC or other computing device and use any applications we want on those devices. On the wireless Internet controlled by cellular carriers like AT&T, we can only use the phones they allow on their networks and can only use the applications they approve. This was fine when the wireless networks were used mostly just for voice calls. But now that they are increasingly becoming our mobile connections to the Internet and mobile phones are becoming full-fledged mobile computers, an argument has been growing that the same rules of open access that rule the wired Internet should apply to the wireless Internet.

The way the cell phone networks are run today is anti-competitive. The result is far more expensive, and far less innovative, than it should be. It looks like the folks at the FCC have finally found a case where they can attempt to change things for the better. They want to know why Apple denied Google’s new Voice app:

US authorities to probe Apple’s Google Voice snub

Google Voice allows users to manage their telephone calls and answerphone messages, and to set up a single telephone number for all devices. The service is based on technology that Google acquired when it bought start-up Grand Central in 2007.

AT&T did respond:

AT&T does not manage or approve applications for the App Store. We have received the letter and will, of course, respond to it.Customers can use any compatible GSM phone on our network, not just the ones we’ve approved and sell. And they also can use apps we don?t approve. We don?t approve iPhone applications.

This does not explain why you cannot connect your iPhone to any network you like, or why you can’t run any application you want on your iPhone. And that’s the problem. Hopefully the FCC will be able to fix this problem and make things better for everyone.