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Some time ago I wrote an article for MacDailyNews suggesting that Apple should buy Sony. Apple lovers were generally shocked and against that idea 10 to 1. Well, having licked my wounds from that article, I am sticking my neck out again….
The big news in Kansas City lately has been about Sprint continuing to bleed customers by the million. Sprint has tried to correct a long corporate tradition of putting its bottom line first and customers last in its planning and business policies. At Sprint it has been understood that customers are suckers to be baited, trapped and exploited. Apple Computer has always put the end user first and the bottom line really takes good care of its self, thank you very much.
Apple is everything Sprint is not. Apple is Innovative, a technology leader, and has world class customer service. The AT&T exclusive on iPhone is going to to expire in a year or so. We know Apple has been looking hard at wireless infrastructure and has expertise in that area. Wireless devices are becoming so common place in our lives, we really couldn’t live without them any more. We open our laptops and expect them to hook up to the internet, without us even thinking about it.
The WiMax or IEEE 802.16 Wireless format is a “last mile” solution. It is sort of a city-wide WiFi network that connects over wide areas with high speed and a lot of bandwidth. Sprint has been working on developing such a network and Apple could buy into that new system by buying Sprint at an attractive price. This would allow Apple TV and the iPhone to have a home network advantage. With control of the device, the iTunes store and the network, Apple could give us the experience we expect from them. Jobs is not one to leave money on the table anyway.
Enter the financial meltdown of the economy in general and Sprint in particular. Sprint is devalued right now and at the right price, the established wireless system and spectrum rights Sprint holds are quite a valuable asset and a good long term investment. Their reputation has made the word “sprint” an albatross and selling the company to a white knight is the only way for the stock holders to come out of this mess.
Sprint should go to Apple and offer an attractive way to sell out to them. Apple has $25 billion in cash and credit to buy Sprint. The management at Apple and the Apple brand name would turn the wireless company we call “Sprint” around quickly. Apple would have to fire the dead wood management and build the world class management team to make the #3 wireless company in the US prosperous again. With long range wireless, the existing cell phone network and a lock on the iPhone, Apple has a reason to consider vertical expansion in the wireless market with the hoard of cash it has accumulated. There are issues with the format of the Sprint Network and the current iPhone but the basic cell network at Sprint is the only thing good about them.
I have stocked up on bandages and my ego has recovered from the last article, so what do you Apple folks thing about this idea?
Greg Mills is a die-hard Macintosh user, MacDailyNews reader, and faux art painter who works in the Kansas City area.