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Apple Said to Consider Becoming a Mobile Carrier by Leasing Network Capacity in U.S. and Europe
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They should have done this from the very beginning.
However, I will only switch to Apple's MVNO if it makes financial sense to me. Right now I pay $26/mo each for 3 people sharing a 3GB data plan with 700 minutes. Perfectly adequate for my needs. It's on Consumer Cellular which is an AT&T-network MVNO.
However, I will only switch to Apple's MVNO if it makes financial sense to me. Right now I pay $26/mo each for 3 people sharing a 3GB data plan with 700 minutes. Perfectly adequate for my needs. It's on Consumer Cellular which is an AT&T-network MVNO.
This sounds like a good idea. I would much rather deal with Apple's customer service than one of the mobile carriers. Whenever I call them they try to do fishy things get me to pay more or stop me from canceling.
You said it.
Apple's reputation for services is terrible; look at Apple Music and iCloud.
And you know that they will charge an arm and a leg for this. I pay £16 a month for my iPhone off-contract; can't see Apple matching that or getting anywhere near it.
I'd pay the same thing I'm paying now if it was Apple that I was dealing with, instead of the carriers. Customer service would be so much better, and if I had an issue with service Apple would own it, and not try to throw it over the fence, like the carriers do.
I am extremely happy with both my Apple Music and iCloud.
You think? Big boys where making phones before the iPhone. Where are they now?
That is a common misunderstanding. Yes, Apple charges premium prices for their hardware. But when it comes to software (iOS, iWork, etc) or services (Apple Music, iTunes) they are usually free or at-market-level prices. You could say that once you buy a device from Apple, you have also paid for the software and service side of it.
I wish that I had access to all the carriers' networks. Seems archaic that we don't.
They should be forced to work together.
Wouldn't apple essentially lease coverage from all the top carriers in the U.S. and the apple SIM card would essentially switch between carriers depending on what had the best signal/throughput? If so, I would switch to them even without unlimited data since it would be the best of all the cellular companies out there, wherever you were at. And Apple would provide the best customer service out there with no hidden crap, and spell it out. They might even throw in services like apple music and iCloud storage, things iPhone owners actually want.
Wouldn't apple essentially lease coverage from all the top carriers in the U.S. and the apple SIM card would essentially switch between carriers depending on what had the best signal/throughput? If so, I would switch to them even without unlimited data since it would be the best of all the cellular companies out there, wherever you were at. And Apple would provide the best customer service out there with no hidden crap, and spell it out. They might even through in services like apple music and iCloud storage, things iPhone owners actually want.
Beat me to it. I like what john Legere is trying to do, but there is a reason why most people stay with AT&T and Verizon and pay their prices.
I never hear about anyone complaining about AT&T and Verizon's coverage, while I constantly hear issues from friends and family with T-Mobile and Sprint's networks. T-Mobile can have unlimited data with 200 Mbps super LTE 6G; it doesn't mean anything if I can't even get service in my own house.
I'm planning on switching to T-Mobile, but not without trying out the network first. Most friends/family have given T-Mobile coverage average-to-bad reviews.
This is along the lines of what I'm thinking. If Apple were going to get into this business, it'd be because they think they might be able to put together a way to make the experience better for their customers. What you say is exactly how they could do this - unify several carrier contracts under a single umbrella to give the best coverage, and software smarts to even switch networks on the fly based on capacity, simplify the billing structure, and make all Apple services free of data charges. That'd be a compelling package.
Well AAPL is down almost 3% today so this rumor isn't exciting Wall Street at all.
Exactly. Apple has already said they have zero reason to compete in price wars with other things so why would they do it as an MVNO.
"Pay more for the Apple experience in your wireless carrier"
Pretty sure Johnny would start talking about how they crafted the radio waves for the perfect arc at each end for blah blah blah.
Seriously?
Let's see .. there was (and still is):
Motorola, LG, Samsung and Nokia just to name a few. I picked up a new Moto G and the phone is fantastic, a $220 device that I feel is every bit as good (if not better) than my 6.
Yeah... And that is what everyone was saying when they were talking about bring out their own phone as well and look what a horrible mistake that turned out to be...
U.S and Europe and -CANADA- please, we are getting slaughtered here. $80 tax incl I pay monthly for voice and 4GB data plan. Don't know if it is a fake price inflation or the surface size of the country is so huge and population density so low that it's actually expensive to offer the service.
MobileMe was not, but iCloud is. Apple Maps was a failure at launch (not dissimilar to Google Maps's launch), but it plenty good right now - and more importantly used more than Google Maps on iOS devices - and based on early numbers, Apple Music is pretty successful. There was even a MR post about that. What critics think of Apple Music is not the same as the general populous.
That being said, I don't see how this is a good business idea for Apple.
I'm not sure I can get very excited about this. I'd guess that Apple would negotiate themselves a very competitive rate with anyone they were in bed with. However, based on their pricing structure for other services (and products) - they wouldn't necc. be cheaper. Like with Apple TV, it really would be contingent on WHAT they were offering beyond what the consumer can already get with other carriers and/or MVNOs. Eventually, perhaps - it might be that you can ONLY buy an iPhone with Apple Network service. But they would have to have a solid network worldwide to do that. And pretty sure that the networks leasing the pipes wouldn't be keen to resign Apple if that happened.