So Verizon is putting out a call to developers to get excited about the upcoming Verizon application store. A little late, guys! You expect developers to turn around and say “sure buddy!” while they’re busy scrambling to get their apps working on platforms that aren’t built from the ground up to screw them over? Because I can only assume that bringing your app to the Verizon store will be a bit like submitting yourself to the Borg: total assimilation with a few notable perks.

Why even try at this point, Verizon? Why push yourself between the customers and the content any more than you already do? The smartphones everybody wants and will soon have are designed to directly access the stuff you want to be a gateway to. The carrier is quickly becoming irrelevant as it becomes clear that it’s the plans and infrastructure (and inside deals) which make the deal sweet. No self-respecting developer is going to take time off of their iPhone, Android, Palm, or BlackBerry project to make sure they’ve got something going in your ass-backwards, years-too-late carrier-branded store!

Maybe if you’d started busting this out a year ago when app stores were still larval, you could have convinced Google and BlackBerry and all these other players to be ready for your nonsense when it came out, but no. Everyone’s already got their ducks in a row, and here you come, thinking you can just herd them into your little basket.

Here’s what you do, Verizon: nothing. Just support the phones you’ve got as best you can and stop trying to put your finger in pies where it obviously doesn’t belong.