Today seems to be the day for Verizon news, eh?  Earlier we brought you news that Big Red may be phasing out the DROID 2, and now it looks like they'll be making another dramatic change, except this time the change affects the feature phone users in the audience.  For some time now, customers that purchased a "3G Multimedia Phone" have been required to sign up for a 25 MB data plan that cost them $9.99 per month.  However, a recently leaked Verizon memo states that the carrier is going to be eliminating the mandatory data package for feature phones released during the fourth quarter.  Unfortunately, customers that already own a 3G Multimedia device, like the enV3, will still be required to keep their data plan.  The memo also mentions that Verizon will be launching their 4G network and new data cards in Q4, which we already knew.

I never really understood why Verizon would force customers with these 3G Multimedia phones to pay for data plans if they don't need or want them.  Most of these handsets are aimed at teens who just want to text and either don't need a data plan or have parents that don't want to pay the extra $10 for that plan.  While it's disappointing that existing customers won't be able to drop their required data plans, at least Verizon will finally be dropping the requirement.  What do you think of Verizon's data plan for messaging phones?  Are any of you current customers upset that you won't be able to drop the $10 plan?

Via Boy Genius Report