I know for a fact that there are a lot of Verizon BlackBerry users that are ecstatic right now because their long wait is over as the Verizon BlackBerry Curve is now available. At the same time, however, those very Verizon BlackBerry users are ticked off that Verizon still locks down their branded versions of BlackBerry devices.

There is no question that Verizon is still Verizon. I wonder, however, if Verizon could or would ever appease their customer base by offering an unlocked BlackBerry and not lose revenue by just charging more for it.

Make no mistake, Verizon can tell you that they disable certain features to make devices secure and stable on their network until they are blue in the face. We know, however, that RIM makes BlackBerrys more than secure and stable enough and all Verizon is doing is charging for GPS because, well, they can, and we know that they are all about their bottom line.

Verizon makes a lot of money of VZ Navigator, however, most Verizon BlackBerry users that I know don’t have it. They simply refuse to pay a monthly fee for GPS on a phone when they could easily by a cheap stand alone GPS unit that is way better than a mobile device which acts like a GPS unit for under a hundred bucks. I’d bet a lot of them would have been willing to pay an extra $50 to $100 up front if the built-in GPS wasn’t disabled.

Verizon should think about that.