US cellular incumbent Verizon has launched its ThingSpace developer portal, declaring that it wants to make the process of building and connecting IoT projects easier for all. Key to it all is the MNO’s cellular network, and in the short term, the transition to LTE Cat 1, Cat 0, and eventually Cat-M will be key – as will the emergence of a LPWAN standard from the 3GPP. ThingSpace is intended to allow developer to create applications, for customers to manage their devices, for partners to market their services, and for Verizon to leverage to launch integrated vertical solutions in what it calls an open environment – not that a vendor-owned platform sounds particularly open to our ears. Under development for…