According to a report on ZDNet, Chris Sacca, the head of special initiatives at Google, claimed mobile carriers have been lobbying the company to stop people from using Google Mobile Maps. Sacca informed the audience at Oxford University's Said Business School: "We've been getting notes from some of the telco carriers who are saying 'look, you need to stop your customers from downloading this thing.' They're inserting themselves between you and an application that you want--I think that has scary, scary implications." That's pretty much what you'd expect from a dotcom on the subject of carriers, but it highlights the growing presence content providers, especially those in the position to provide free content, will continue to stake out in the wireless Internet.
For more on Sacca's comments:
- see this article from ZDNet