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Apple is not going to buy a mobile phone carrier. They are interested in a product or service that they can shutdown and relaunch into an Apple product as quick

Apple is not going to buy a mobile phone carrier. They are interested in a product or service that they can shutdown and relaunch into an Apple product as quickly as possible. Mobile phone companies are not a unique market for Apple that can be i-stamped and sold. All carriers support competitor's products which cannot be easily removed.

petenixey 16y ago
Maybe but when they announce iTunes in the cloud there's going to be a massive youth sector for whom mobile access will be a killer feature and who won't be able to get it affordably or reliably from the current carriers. If Apple were to buy a carrier they could relaunch it with dataplans focussed on kids and transition a massive younger section of the market across to them. Ten years later that youth market grows up to become the adult market and all of a sudden Apple dominates the carriers too.
- aberkowitz 16y ago
  Apple is not known for affordable products, nor can they magic a phone carrier towards reliability. AT&T is a massive company that cannot "relaunch" due to contractual obligations. Even if they did, carriers already offer "kid friendly" plans - unlimited data/text that Mommy and Daddy can pay for. So the kids transition toward adulthood and iAT&T transitions back towards their successful business model of offering plans for everyone?
  - petenixey 16y ago
    Your point about reliability is fair although doubling the capitalisation of a carrier would make a significant dent. However I think you overestimate the inertia of the status quo. 1. Apple doesn't need to relaunch AT&T, Sprint or any other network it simply launches a supplementary branded network like Virgin mobile. 2. The current unlimited data plans are only unlimited in the face of limited data utility. Where people can use massive amounts of data (i.e. the iPhone), unlimited comes at a premium. 3. Although Apple is revered for its high end products its iOS marketshare is 41% iPod touch and most of its device sales come from low end products like the iPod touch and the nano. It's now no stranger to mass market affordability.

petenixey 16y ago

Maybe but when they announce iTunes in the cloud there's going to be a massive youth sector for whom mobile access will be a killer feature and who won't be able to get it affordably or reliably from the current carriers. If Apple were to buy a carrier they could relaunch it with dataplans focussed on kids and transition a massive younger section of the market across to them. Ten years later that youth market grows up to become the adult market and all of a sudden Apple dominates the carriers too.

aberkowitz 16y ago
Apple is not known for affordable products, nor can they magic a phone carrier towards reliability. AT&T is a massive company that cannot "relaunch" due to contractual obligations. Even if they did, carriers already offer "kid friendly" plans - unlimited data/text that Mommy and Daddy can pay for. So the kids transition toward adulthood and iAT&T transitions back towards their successful business model of offering plans for everyone?
- petenixey 16y ago
  Your point about reliability is fair although doubling the capitalisation of a carrier would make a significant dent. However I think you overestimate the inertia of the status quo. 1. Apple doesn't need to relaunch AT&T, Sprint or any other network it simply launches a supplementary branded network like Virgin mobile. 2. The current unlimited data plans are only unlimited in the face of limited data utility. Where people can use massive amounts of data (i.e. the iPhone), unlimited comes at a premium. 3. Although Apple is revered for its high end products its iOS marketshare is 41% iPod touch and most of its device sales come from low end products like the iPod touch and the nano. It's now no stranger to mass market affordability.