“Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that the Internet giant could team up with at least one partner to bid in the U.S. government’s upcoming wireless spectrum auction,” Scott Morrison reports for Dow Jones Newswires.
“‘It’s perfectly possible that the best bidding strategy may be to bid with one or more partners,’ Schmidt told journalists following a gathering with financial analysts at the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. ‘We won’t make our decision until that last minute,'” Morrison reports.
“The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is slated in January to begin auctioning a swath of 700-megahertz spectrum, which is considered prime U.S. wireless real estate because the airwaves can travel long distances and penetrate thick walls,” Morrison reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Google CEO Eric Schmidt is a member of Apple Inc.’s Board of Directors.
Microsoft
If Apple partners with Goog watch the Apple TV become a huge part of Apple’s strategy, if it isn’t already.
Goodbye ATT hello Google. The iPhone, unleashed.
Would you be surprised to know that Apple has been working on its own cell infrastructure for some time?
Incidentally, what do you think that 13+ billion in cash is growing for.
MDN word: central, “Apple Central”
@ obvious:
I like your thinking.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Lemming.
applejuice,
It’s now 15+ billion in cash — ca- ching!
@ applejuice,
Exactly what I have been saying for a while. It could also be used for a massive R & D effort. A 3-D OS 11, anyone???
Good ol’ CNN, the Close to News Network, day late and dollar short.
This is one of the worst kept secrets around gang.
Let me re-post my comment from Cringley’s article last week –
Comment from: BC Kelly
I pointed this out recently in one of these comments, worth repeating –
Are only about 1.25B folks out there with computers right now
So the future market potential is 5.25B
Got to think Big folks
REAL BIG
Steve and Eric – hook it up
The Whole World is waiting
BC
MDN Magic Word – “ways”
As in: Apple and Google now have the ways and means to make this happen.
Good – let’s go Change The World
The ATT-Apple contract is for 5 years. This should be about how long it takes for Google/Apple to get their spectrum running with the Apple iPhone v5 plus other services.
The AT&T;-Apple contract is for 5 years, but is that for “any and all iPhones” or for “the first model iPhones”? If Apple comes out with an HD iPhone, would that require a new agreement or would it be covered? Will even the 32GB iPhones in the works be covered? How about a G3 iPhone?
My point – the one NOT on my head – is that Apple is good at writing contracts that favor Apple … even if they also favor the other guy for a bit. Apple does not plan to be wed to AT&T;for longer than it suits them. There’s no way they can become dominant in the Smart-phone business while joined at the hip to AT&T;. The biggest player, perhaps, but not the dominant player – as they are dominant in the “MP3 Player” market.
Dave
Been wondering why so many others have added a “;” after they type “AT&T;”. Now I see that it happens to me, too. MDN, I didn’t type the “;” after the name, and it isn’t their ticker symbol, what’s going on?
Dave
I wonder how many chairs have gone through Ballmer’s window as he ponders the thought of Apple and Google teaming up on the wireless spectrum auction.
Apple and Google partnering to buy the 700MHz wireless spectrum would KILL the rest of the wireless industry.
AT&T;&
&
I believe that apple still has that brand new MCI data center that they bought a couple years ago, just sitting around waiting to be used… for something..
@DLMeyer
It’s the way the comment system handles the ampersand entity.
For some reason, it’s thinking that T is part of a special entity (one that doesn’t exist) and adding the ;.
So, to avoid that you have to use the special entity &</pre>.
[Hope this works]
AT&T
The 700 MHz signal goes through thick walls!
Pass the Alcoa Wrap.
@DLMeyer
I have actually been hitting on the point of Apple (& possibly Google as an ally) buying the spectrum, now for almost two years.. look back through the archives.
The iPhone is irrellevant, since they introduced the iPod Touch. VoIP is next gen, and is capable on the current Touch. They don’t have to worry about the agreement with ATT. Apple just has to discontinue making the iPhone, and use the iPod touch as the phone until the contract expires and then introduce a “new” iPhone that is better than the both of them….
MacMorsel
@Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son
Right on Brother!
Is there a built in microphone and speaker in the iTouch? If not, how can it be used for VoIP?
You heard it here first people:
2008 will be the year of the TV!
(unless I’m totally wrong, then you can all just pretend I didn’t say anything)
No, there’s no microphone in the iPod touch, however, all it would take is some enterprising company (Griffin) to make a very small dock connector microphone to work with a program like skype… Something that went the full width of the base and very thin would be nice..