Back in 2007, Verizon announced that they'd be throwing off the shackles of closed network architectures and crippled devices to embrace the glorious open and free Internet, a decision that was lauded by the technology media as a massive paradigm shift for the company. Unfortunately, the technology media gave Verizon their cookie before the company actually accomplished anything.

Two years later, just a few dozen "open" devices had been approved by Verizon's testing process, most of them enterprise gear and of little use to consumers, unless you have an innovative home use for EVDO-powered prison anklets. The glacial pace at which Verizon is opening the old ma bell iron doors isn't surprising, given Verizon's deepest fear is to be a "dumb pipe" provider -- where content (and ad revenue) is the business of younger, more innovative and more adaptable companies.

In order to prevent this possible future of severely decimated revenues, Verizon is throwing open the door to the development community, or at the very least putting on a very good show to that effect. The company this week is hosting a Developer Community Conference and webcasting it live (poorly, so far).

The big news? Verizon has confirmed already leaked reports that they plan to launch an application store by the end of the year, and the conference is aimed at encouraging developers to fill that store with interesting applications.

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam launched the conference by welcoming everyone, including " those of you that said this day will never come and it’s a sham." "Our success is tied to you," McAdam told developers in attendance, promising that Verizon's going to "provide more applications than anyone else bar none," in between taking a few poorly veiled shots at AT&T's struggles handling iPhone traffic. Verizon used the conference to announce a new advisory board stocked with 11 member companies:On one hand, the collaboration between Verizon, hardware vendors and developers could provide some interesting results. The company says RIM and Verizon Wireless are now working together to integrate Blackberry application billing into Verizon's VCAST application store, and Verizon's giving developers access to their billing APIs. Verizon says they'll share 70% of applications revenues with developers while keeping 30% for themselves. Verizon also says it will take just 14 days for an application to launch after its date of submission.

We will allow customers to connect any device that meets our minimum technical standards, and be activated on our network. We do not expect this to be a difficult or lengthy process, since we will only be testing network connectivity. -Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam in 2007

On the other hand, Verizon's very existence at the center of application control runs contrary to the idea of truly open networks, phones and devices. Will Verizon be any more eager than AT&T to allow a Google Voice application that could erode their cash cow SMS revenue? If not, that's not technically "open," no matter how sensational the press junkets and public relations events.

As we've seen with Apple and AT&T crippling applications or just banning them when they threaten revenues, having a lot of applications doesn't necessarily mean an open and reasonable process. Just like AT&T and Apple, many application decisions won't be made based on consumer or application value, but how each application impacts Verizon's bottom line.

Of course, just like Verizon's 2007 promise to become a carrier that values open networks and devices, the tech press is going to largely foam at the mouth over Verizon's freshly-hewn love of collaboration and developers, ignoring the company's long history of walled gardens and anti-competitive behavior. In fact, several outlets are getting paid to lob soft ball questions at the carrier about the new venture.

While it would be nice to believe Verizon really has turned a corner when it comes to wireless walled gardens and anti-competitive behavior, it's probably wise to wait until things actually change before smothering the telco with hugs and kisses.