This is just great. Soon after introducing the Motorola Backflip, reviewed here, and dropping the price on it to a mere $99 after mail-in-rebate, we hear that AT&T has locked the device and is preventing users from installing non-market apps. That’s polar opposite of what Android is meant to do. It’s supposed to be the rebel, open, wild OS that’s going to be flip the industry (Apple) upside down. It’s supposed to encourage openness. That’s a little difficult to do if users are locked down, no?

Message to AT&T: enough with the old carrier model of controlling the experience. Let Android do that for you, and you do what you’re good at doing – charging an obnoxious amount for data plans.