Apple mobile network? Be prepared to pay a hefty monthly fee.
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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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My iPhone can't even figure out which is better between a 1bps minimum strength wifi signal and 10Mbs full strength LTE signal. I have to manually toggle wifi off to force it over. I have very little faith that it's going to automatically connect me to whichever cell provider has a better signal at any given time.
More likely, a phone on an Apple network will be contractually obligated to connect to one particular service in a given area. Swapping will only happen when you move from one region to another.
An intriguing thought, but I have my doubts. The carriers like retail markups, and have a huge retail marketing operation - company-owned stores and franchised stores, alliances with retailers like Wal-Mart, etc. Competition for those lucrative retail customers motivates the companies to upgrade and expand - without name-brand recognition/preference on the consumer level, the carriers have to compete against each other solely to obtain deals with the MVNOs. Maybe Apple-as-MVNO makes qualitative demands on carriers (as they do with their various manufacturing partners), but if Apple is the only MVNO to demand quality over low-cost quantity, eventually Apple may have trouble obtaining the quality it desires.
When carriers sell to MVNOs, it's because they have excess capacity - they build-out in anticipation of demand. So long as their retail customer base isn't (yet) using all that bandwidth, they can lease the rest at low rates and still come out ahead overall. When the MVNO lease expires... maybe they have the excess capacity to extend the lease, perhaps not.
A key point missed by all (so far) is that carriers sell iPhones and iPads... huge numbers of them. While there are plenty of "frenemy" relationships out there (Apple and Google for search, Apple and Samsung for chips, etc.), this one would be particularly risky - it's not one piece of a complex product, it's fundamental to the sale of Apple's largest product.
As far as building this in anticipation of the car... Car sales when they're first introduced will be like Watch sales today - a small piece of the total business. If it didn't pay to build this kind of infrastructure for the phone, why would it pay to build it for the car?
Oh no no no...
Apple its own network..... maybe strike up a deal if u pay for Apple music
With the premium Apple charges, u may need as many bundles as u can get to keep the cost down.
If Apple can give me data only for 6 months and it never expires, them sign me up. If Apple wants to be 'different' now is the time to prove yourself.
Apple its own network..... maybe strike up a deal if u pay for Apple music
With the premium Apple charges, u may need as many bundles as u can get to keep the cost down.If Apple can give me data only for 6 months and it never expires, them sign me up. If Apple wants to be 'different' now is the time to prove yourself.
I'd still rather talk to 'Lily' about phone service.
Pshhht. Forget Lily, I think Carly would give me some more... Flexible... Choices with my services.
You'll never see any carrier (that's has service worth a damn) that offers unlimited data. I say this because data is any carrier's largest expense which is the main factor in service pricing. Yeah, TMO and Sprint still offer unlimited data but,,,,,, well, we all know what their service is like.
Everyone here is missing the biggest point in this story, apple leases capacity from 2-3 carries maybe even all 4. Your iPhone uses the best available path at that time switching between networks seamlessly.... Avoids over crowding a single tower by spreading its traffic... Roaming would be easier since they could just allow u access over seas where they have the same MVNO... And they can't really mess it up since the network is still the same ones already in place not like they'll be building their own.... I see little down side to this except maybe cost which might be higher than what u expect from current MVNO out today
I am pretty sure iPhone has the ability to figure out the differential between the signals. The issue is implementing it so that user understands whats going to happen.
Current implementation is simple. If Wifi available, get list of Wifi. If one of them is selected as auto-connect, connect to it. else show the wifi list for user to select from. This is done irrespective of their signal strengths, because of complexities with perception of signal strength.
Should it use signal strength (dB) or bandwidth(Mbps) as a factor to switch?
Nobody has implemented it as yet. Not iOS, Android or any other mobile platform.
iCloud Drive. Of course mere money isn't the only problem. Drive syncing isn't as solid as other services and I doubt it would pass backup bouncer. iCloud email doesn't have support for user domains even if you paid them, which you can't, and its push notifications don't update everything they should, like folder changes. I'd love to use Apple's services but none of them come remotely close enough to best in class to be worth downgrading for.
I see it as "Apple provides good value for the prices they charge." Not always, but most of the time.
Sarcasm noted, but I suppose it depends on your definition of successful.
MobileMe became iCloud which has over 300 million users last I checked, although probably more now.
Apple Maps had over 35 million users as of 2013, and I'm sure that number has only grown.
Apple Music has only been available for a little over a month, so its popularity is still to be determined.
I think the reference to "service" is meant to refer to Apple's cloud offerings.
An analogy, Internet is really no different from any other metered product that you purchase. Like your electric bill, pay in tiers, first tier less expensive and increases as you go up in use age. Unlimited is what electricity can be just pay more not less for using more.
Customers can have the same SIM card but change between carriers, creating more competition – maybe lower prices. Ultimately iMessage and audio-FaceTime will entirely replace cellular calls/texts and so we will only need the carriers for internet access
It could be interesting to see Apple buy from telecoms providers mobile data volume to become a global MVNO, and deliver (in selected countries) iMessages, FaceTime, Photos, Music, Siri, and all iCloud free of charge, and then also without roaming fees, on any iPhone or iPad (and one day the Watch too).
Any mobile connection (web surf, e-mail, 3rd party app) would still be in the limit of users' contract with its local telecom provider, but for every Apple services the iDevice could on-the-fly switch to Apple's data network if not on WiFi.
Any mobile connection (web surf, e-mail, 3rd party app) would still be in the limit of users' contract with its local telecom provider, but for every Apple services the iDevice could on-the-fly switch to Apple's data network if not on WiFi.
What's wrong with Apple Music and iCloud? I've been using iTunes Match for over a year and haven't had any major problems. Apple Music has worked wonderfully for me (I'm listening to it right now) and it's curation is top notch.
People keep saying Apple's services suck but they never provide any specific examples.