Continuing on with the big CTIA announcements, I particularly enjoyed this announcement about the HTC Touch Dual coming to North America. It was announced that this device will be sold at Best Buy, bestbuy.com and htc.com. It will be an unlocked GSM device, meaning any AT&T or T-Mobile customers will be able to put in their SIM cards.



The Dual is a touchscreen device with Windows Mobile 6.1 and TouchFLO, which is a technology which allows finger-touch scrolling, photo zooming, and panning. Also features a slide-out 20-key keyboard, quadband GSM and dual band AT&T HSDPA frequencies. Check out the video here.

The revelation about these phones being sold at Best Buy leaves unanswered questions. Will this begin a new trend here in the States? Most phones sold are locked and sold through specific carriers. There is a limited selection of unlocked phones sold in the US, sold either through auction sites such as eBay or other novelty stores. Nokia, for example, is selling the N95 among other phones unlocked at its stores and on its website. Other unlocked phones are imported. But these types of phones are certainly in the minority.

Thus, I am curious to see if Best Buy begins selling a number of different types of phones unlocked and open to be used on different wireless carriers. These days we find the carriers under more and more pressure to loosen their tight grip on contracts and open their networks. To me this seems to be a way for Best Buy and HTC to further the movement along in that direction.