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Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

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Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#11

Post by globie »

Like many others have pointed out, Apple is obsessed with avoiding antitrust scrutiny. A fun (edit: incorrect) example: they are fine owning the device you use to connect to their own streaming service to watch their own produced TV shows, but appear to strictly avoid showing their products in those shows.

EDIT: I stand corrected! Multiple "Apple Original Series" contain Apple products, such as in Ted Lasso and (I think implied) in For All Mankind, as people pointed out below. Shows what I know about TV.

I wonder why some Apple Original Series have Apple products, and some don't. I would love to see if there's any correlation between the number of shows which feature a specific product and that product's market share in the show's region or demographic.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#14

Post by devmor »

Why would Apple, the incredibly profitable, cash-happy company that could arguably be called the most successful business in the world, choose to take on billions of dollars in debt and the responsibilities of physical infrastructure maintenance?

Apple is "hitting walls" expanding their business because they have captured nearly the entirety of their potential customer base. They don't need to keep expanding.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#15

Post by sambaumann »

globie wrote: post #11

Like many others have pointed out, Apple is obsessed with avoiding antitrust scrutiny. A fun (edit: incorrect) example: they are fine owning the device you use to connect to their own streaming service to watch their own produced TV shows, but appear to strictly avoid showing their products in those shows. EDIT: I stand corrected! Multiple "Apple Original Series" contain Apple products, such as in Ted Lasso and (I th…

The characters in Ted Lasso almost exclusively have iPhones and Macs

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#16

Post by dublinben »

Wireless carriers are a low-margin, increasingly commoditized business. Apple is only interested in expanding into high-margin businesses like services (iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV, etc.) where they can offer unique value (e.g. privacy) compared to their competitors. Apple keeps so much cash on hand because they have more money than worthwhile ways to invest it.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#17

Post by Dkumpikolo »

why would they?

It's already a fully integrated end-to-end communication device.

They don't know how to operate it, they don't care about millions of people complaining about shitty network, they don't have to handle internationalization and they would position themselves against whoever carrier is before/after at&t, Verizon and T-Mobile.

They make huge margins by making hardware. This type of margin is not happening at carriers.

And no just because companies like Verizon do have daughters in other countries they are not global. So apple would also need to expand to all countries.

I only see a lot of downsides and not a single upside.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#18

Post by Whatarethese »

badrequest wrote: post #7
solardev wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if Apple just operated a MVNO like Google Fi does?

MVNOs are like second or third-tier citizens on mobile carriers, why would Apple hand a lever like that to, say, AT&T?

Google Fi isn't deprioritized. There are a few MVNOs that have the same priority as first party carriers.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#19

Post by Dkumpikolo »

murillians wrote: post #13

They’re investing heavily in satellite communications. https://www.mobileworldlive.com/apple/globalstar-apple-super...

Weirdly enough though.

It's super expensive, only a real option for emergencies and not a mass market.

Either they expect low orbit sat to be the next thing or it's a pure diversity topic because yeah what else should they do

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't Apple bought a cell carrier like AT&T or Verizon?

#20

Post by nabla9 »

globie wrote: post #11

Like many others have pointed out, Apple is obsessed with avoiding antitrust scrutiny. A fun (edit: incorrect) example: they are fine owning the device you use to connect to their own streaming service to watch their own produced TV shows, but appear to strictly avoid showing their products in those shows. EDIT: I stand corrected! Multiple "Apple Original Series" contain Apple products, such as in Ted Lasso and (I th…

> but appear to strictly avoid showing their products in those shows.

Apple has 'villains can't use iPhones' rule. Directors are not allowed to use Apple product placement for villains.

Apple pushes their products in Apple TV+ and pays for product placements, or provides their products for free for other productions as as long as you follow the rules.

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