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$110 Billion. Apple needs a telecom network of its own.

A

Anti-Lucifer

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 9, 2012
776
2
With $110 Billion in cash reserves, apple's next frontier should be in the telecom industry. I don't like AT&T. Nor any other US mobile phone carrier. If apple were to build a network and brand it iNet or some funky name, I'll be happy to move over there.

Perhaps then they can actually make a device that isn't hindered by all these stupid 2GB/3GB limits on LTE. I'm so sick of these greedy telecoms in the USA.

They need to buy up sprint and expand.
 
Then there would only be one or two devices to choose from. Although Now that I Think about it, having it solely only offer the iPhone in Variations, iPad in Variations, and 3G Macs would be wonderful.
 
If they offered the next LTE iPhone on their own network without a subsidy price, I'd be happy to buy it full price as long as I get the kind of service I'd expect from Apple standards.

At least give me an option to buy 250GB a month data usage like comcast or pay more for more data use. I don't even like how the trend is going these days. You have such a capable high tech device and the network now is as fast or faster than your home cable internet service but you are capped at a measly 2GB/3GB limit of data use. It's like I buy a ferrari so that I can be restricted to drive as fast as I want but I have 1 mile road to go on each month.

If AT&T is able to make billions in revenue and that's with the influence of Apple's iPhone, I don't see how apple can't do this in the USA. I don't think they need to do it abroad, but for the USA, they need to kick AT&T in the teeth.
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
Perhaps then they can actually make a device that isn't hindered by all these stupid 2GB/3GB limits on LTE. I'm so sick of these greedy telecoms in the USA.
Click to expand...

With those wishes, it seems a bit strange to pick a company who's known for enforcing arbitrary limits, censoring what can be used, and often charges more than its competitors for its products.
 
kdarling said:
It seems a bit strange to pick a company who's known for enforcing arbitrary limits, censoring what can be used, and often charges more than its competitors for its products.
Click to expand...

Well, that's true to an extent. Apple was never a mobile phone company. Now that they are, I don't see why they shouldn't dip into this cash cow industry. So we should all just take it up the rear and live with this?

I'm sure if apple did decide to come out and play with AT&T/Verizon/Sprint/Tmobile, those four fella's will stop and look at their current service offerings (or lack of).
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
Perhaps then they can actually make a device that isn't hindered by all these stupid 2GB/3GB limits on LTE. I'm so sick of these greedy telecoms in the USA.
Click to expand...

Yeah right, they will probably put more limitations and charge more than any other carrier out there.
I'd rather them make devices that the customer can pick and choose what carrier to go with depending on the coverage at their local area.
 
Just keep it the way it is now, with choices.

I like having choices, even though I chose AT&T and stuck with them since 2008 when I started with the 3G. Just knowing I have the choice is the way to go.
 
They have 75 of that 110 billion in offshore accounts. The tax on bringing that into the states would be insane. Not only would they have to do that, but they would have to either start licensing spectrum or buying spectrum from other wireless providers who probably wouldn't be too willing to sell that to Apple.

There is a lot more than you probably thing that goes into starting a wireless network company and Apple would be wasting a large chunk of money to try.
 
So the current offerings from the big four are actually choices? Let's see, 2GB or 3GB limits. Let's see which handicap I'd like to pay for.

I'm only asking for these data package restrictions to be lifted or at least provide something decent for the money. 2GB + $30+23%+ in taxes does not mean this is a choice I want.

I find it interesting that you guys can say how much control apple will restrict from you if they created their own network but yet millions still buy an iPhone with these "restrictions" on their iDevices. Not to mention the lack of options you get from an iPad vs the competitor and even with screen sizes from different competitors yet people still flock over to an idevice.
 
kdarling said:
With those wishes, it seems a bit strange to pick a company who's known for enforcing arbitrary limits, censoring what can be used, and often charges more than its competitors for its products.
Click to expand...
1. I give you.
2. they were cutting their teeth early and playing cautiously with app store, it's gotten much better.
3. Really? iPhone is very competitively priced, and I seem to remember 499 iPad2 vs. 799 Xoom. LOL... we know how well that went.
 
basesloaded190 said:
They have 75 of that 110 billion in offshore accounts. The tax on bringing that into the states would be insane. Not only would they have to do that, but they would have to either start licensing spectrum or buying spectrum from other wireless providers who probably wouldn't be too willing to sell that to Apple.

There is a lot more than you probably thing that goes into starting a wireless network company and Apple would be wasting a large chunk of money to try.
Click to expand...

And your sources for their cash deposits are from where? I'm not instructing them on how to do this - that's their job.

There's a lot of money to make in this business and why not with the momentum apple has now with their devices, they can succeed. You do know the major attraction to AT&T is an iPhone - nothing else. If AT&T can make this much money a year because of the iPhone, that would be one serious reason to go on an apple network service.
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
And your sources for their cash deposits are from where? I'm not instructing them on how to do this - that's their job.

There's a lot of money to make in this business and why not with the momentum apple has now with their devices, they can succeed. You do know the major attraction to AT&T is an iPhone - nothing else. If AT&T can make this much money a year because of the iPhone, that would be one serious reason to go on an apple network service.
Click to expand...

I actually listened to the earnings call yesterday ;)

There's a lot to lose when looking at this. Would their set up be just US or world wide? Do you have any idea the regulations and set up costs Apple would incur trying to provide the coverage to the same countries they currently sell iPhones in?
 
basesloaded190 said:
I actually listened to the earnings call yesterday ;)

There's a lot to lose when looking at this. Would their set up be just US or world wide? Do you have any idea the regulations and set up costs Apple would incur trying to provide the coverage to the same countries they currently sell iPhones in?
Click to expand...

I didn't listen to the call - I was just asking. This would be set up for the USA only. There are a ton of regulations but that's just like every other business in the USA - it didn't stop them from producing an iPhone. It's always this way when it's not done before, people will always say this and that. That never stopped them from succeeding.
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
I didn't listen to the call - I was just asking. This would be set up for the USA only. There are a ton of regulations but that's just like every other business in the USA - it didn't stop them from producing an iPhone. It's always this way when it's not done before, people will always say this and that. That never stopped them from succeeding.
Click to expand...

So would everyone outside of the US be able to us the iPhone on "Apple's Network" and if so, how?
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
They need to buy up sprint and expand.
Click to expand...

Buying of a career would immediately mark Apple as a potential competitor for all the carriers over the world. If the history is any indication, Apple hates being in an industry like telephone industry. Thus it won't happen.

kdarling said:
With those wishes, it seems a bit strange to pick a company who's known for enforcing arbitrary limits, censoring what can be used, and often charges more than its competitors for its products.
Click to expand...

It's not strange at all. The implicit reasoning here is that Apple buys telecom company to help their hardware sales instead of trying to make big money off the network, which means simplified pricing scheme and possibly lower prices because the true profit generator will still be the hardware sales.
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
With $110 Billion in cash reserves, apple's next frontier should be in the telecom industry. I don't like AT&T. Nor any other US mobile phone carrier. If apple were to build a network and brand it iNet or some funky name, I'll be happy to move over there.

Perhaps then they can actually make a device that isn't hindered by all these stupid 2GB/3GB limits on LTE. I'm so sick of these greedy telecoms in the USA.

They need to buy up sprint and expand.
Click to expand...


Where do people get this stuff from?
 
It would be awesome, but just wouldn't make sense for Apple from a financial standpoint. Most of the cash is held off shore and the cost in taxes to invest in a network in the U.S. would be ridiculous. Besides, there's not enough spectrum to go around anyway.
 
$110 billion wouldn't buy them much. Maybe one or two of the larger regional carriers.
They would still have to lease infrastructure from VZW and/or AT&T.

VZW and AT&T spend more than that over a 5 year period just in maintenance and upgrade costs.
AT&T has dropped nearly $20 billion so far in their LTE expansion and they still have a long way to go.
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
If they offered the next LTE iPhone on their own network without a subsidy price, I'd be happy to buy it full price as long as I get the kind of service I'd expect from Apple standards.

At least give me an option to buy 250GB a month data usage like comcast or pay more for more data use. I don't even like how the trend is going these days. You have such a capable high tech device and the network now is as fast or faster than your home cable internet service but you are capped at a measly 2GB/3GB limit of data use. It's like I buy a ferrari so that I can be restricted to drive as fast as I want but I have 1 mile road to go on each month.
Click to expand...

First their growth would have been much slower without subsidized pricing. You can make up for some of this with competitive plan rates, but to go into something like that, they'd have to buy out one of the carriers. Let's assume they can do this. This other company does not automatically become Apple. It probably has its own corporate culture, and the infrastructure is the same as before. It takes a lot of time to put up towers and improve a network. What would Apple do differently here? It could face the same congestion under different management. The other problem is that this doesn't necessarily guarantee growth. Overall you just seem to assume Apple could do it better because it's Apple without any idea of how this would be accomplished. You aren't happy with your current service, so you wish Apple would provide it. I don't see Apple ever buying into something so large.
 
Menel said:
1. I give you.
2. they were cutting their teeth early and playing cautiously with app store, it's gotten much better.
3. Really? iPhone is very competitively priced, and I seem to remember 499 iPad2 vs. 799 Xoom. LOL... we know how well that went.
Click to expand...

I-devices are priced as high as they can be and people still buy them. Like you mentioned the ipad2 and Xoom. Except I think you are forgetting the Xoom had.

Bigger screen higher resolution
Higher PPI
Sd card slot
Memory expandable to 96gb
More ram
Barometer
Magnetometer
LTE
USB with actual USB hosting (plug in a mouse and cursor pops up on the screen)
Hdmi out built in
Stereo speakers
Better camera
Dual flash for the rear camera
Notification light
And it came out before the iPad 2

I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff
 
If they could some how manage to do this even though they never would, they would have a complete ecosystem. Imagine paying for a shared data plan of like 100GB/month, that could be used by your laptop, iMac, phone, whatever deviced tied to your Apple ID. That would be sweet.
 
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