Verizon ties together FiOS and cell phones

Verizon Communications is making headway in integrating its FiOS TV service with Verizon Wireless handsets. The company, which has long talked about a three-screen strategy that incorporates voice, video and Internet, demonstrated an application that will turn Verizon Wireless phones into a remote controls for the FiOS TV service. The application is expected to be commercially available in the next three months.

The only catch is that the handsets with the remote control application will need to access WiFi, a feature supported by only a small number of Verizon cell phones.

The news comes as mammoth telecom companies like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast work to link services across a variety of networks and access points. Examples include AT&T offering customers with WiFi-capable smartphones free access to its hotspot network, Comcast's mobile WiMAX resale deal with Clearwire, and Verizon Wireless' TiVo application for cell phones.

Indeed, just last month Verizon Wireless announced the pending launch of its VCast Application Store. The store is scheduled to go live in the fourth quarter, and promises to complement application efforts from partners like Research In Motion and Microsoft.

For more:
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article [1] (sub. req.)
- see this Phone+ article [2]

Related Articles:
AT&T, Verizon bolster WiFi offerings [3]
Verizon Wireless to launch VCast Application Store in Q4 [4]
Previewing the Verizon Developer Community Conference [5]         
Verizon's app store stipulations a snub to handset suppliers [6]

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