To me, the reason to do this has nothing to do with the business of actually running the carrier. The reason to do this would be to put pressure on the other carriers by providing data plans with reasonable pricing and terms. The terms of service for every wireless data plan out there today are completely ridiculous and terrible, and since wireless is an oligopoly there's no way that's going to change until a tech company that actually understands the internet buys a wireless carrier and makes them change.
Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
21–30 of 47 posts
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#22The risk to the apple brand/reputation is too great.
Not to mention the antitrust issues.
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#23T-Mobile is a third rate carrier as it is. They can barely compete with AT&T Verizon at this point. The only reason wireless carriers buy each other is for infrastructure and customers to boost its bottom line. Apple has neither. To buy a wireless carrier would be suicide for Apple.
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#24Would it be possible for a carrier (Apple) to "serve one type of phone", as the article suggests? I guess the regulator would not allow that, requiring the use of standards (GSM, LTE,..)? On the other hand we do have SIM-locking already.. Second thought: Would a phone that doesn't support native apps, but HTML5, really be called a 'dumbphone'? Running Javascript even requires a faster CPU for the same experience.
I am with you. I don't see how you could call it a dumb phone at that point.
It is still a foolish idea. To keep costs down, you would probably use the same chip as your other iPhone / iPod Touch or the previous generation chip. You might have less flash, but the commodity chips have increased in size. The biggest cost savings would be to use the original iPhone LCD resolution. No significant cost savings for Apple comes from just having a browser phone. Plus, it would annoy app developers, increase support costs, and cost Apple their 30% cut. I see it as a no go.
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#25To me, the reason to do this has nothing to do with the business of actually running the carrier. The reason to do this would be to put pressure on the other carriers by providing data plans with reasonable pricing and terms. The terms of service for every wireless data plan out there today are completely ridiculous and terrible, and since wireless is an oligopoly there's no way that's going to change until a tech co…
I honestly doubt that would make things any better. The carriers are terrified of becoming dumb pipes between you and your content. Apple's latest strategy is to wedge itself in the middle as a distributor (iTunes, iBooks).
Considering Apple's control obsession, a telecom buyout is more likely to make things even worse. Wireless spectrum is a public good, what we need is a company that has zero interest vested in the bits going down the pipe.
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#26It's interesting, but I have not had too many issues with ATT coverage recently. It's almost like they fixed things. Maybe it's just my area (Bay Area - Peninsula), but I wonder if everyone else is still regularly experiencing the claimed problems with AT&T.
They fixed their reception just in time to lie about why they want to buy T-Mobile to continue screwing US consumers.
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#27Fails the three primary market advantages that Apple always goes for: - Lots of opportunities to innovate (regulation and spectrum issues with the FCC, patents on the major wireless technologies involved, all the infrastructure equipment is produced/procured from 3rd parties) - Large profit margin (carriers aren't generally 40-60% margin operations like the rest of Apple) - Low ongoing overhead (lots of maintenance o…
Also, Apple stands to gain even more dominance at the expense of carriers should next-gen wifi (802.22) ever take hold and make GSM data plans obsolete.
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#28Apple would be spending half its cash pile to acquire a domestic company. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of the company's sales are international [1]; furthermore, I would guess that much of the company's growth is in international markets, especially in Asia. Unless Apple is seeking to improve its operational expertise in running carriers in order to buy up carriers throughout the world, this acquisition would be a very cu…
There are plenty of reasons Apple won't buy a carrier (I think namely because it wouldn't be approved without concessions that Steve Jobs would never live with), but money isn't one of them. Interest rates are very near zero and Apple isn't exactly a credit risk. Not to mention Apple's stock value...
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#29If Apple wants to get in the carrier game, it would make much more sense to become an MVNO so that they can just sell the iPhone and not get into regulatory trouble. They could also do this globally and get rid of things like roaming.
Re: Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier
#30It's interesting, but I have not had too many issues with ATT coverage recently. It's almost like they fixed things. Maybe it's just my area (Bay Area - Peninsula), but I wonder if everyone else is still regularly experiencing the claimed problems with AT&T.
In far west Houston AT&T is an abomination. I quite literally drop 1-4 calls daily, especially around 3-8pm. In my house I'm usually at 1 bar or "searching" most of the time. I have complained and their excuse is that the large masterplanned community that dominates the area won't let them put up more towers. I am skeptical of this. Its a big neighborhood but they aren't that big.
I try to use mark the spot religiously but dunno if it loses it's impact when I'm marking it daily