“There are four reasons that Apple may eventually launch a Wireless ISP subsidiary,” Phil Leigh writes for Inside Digital Media.
“First, the market for Apple’s portable hardware cannot achieve full potential without significant improvement in Wireless Internet access,” Leigh writes. “The exceptional iPhone and iPad successes are forever changing user expectations about network connectivity.”
“Second, regulatory roadblocks commonly employed by FCC-licensed incumbents cannot prevent Apple from entering the market because Wireless ISPs typically utilize unlicensed frequencies,” Leigh writes. “Third, Apple can adequately finance mesh Wi-Fi networks capable of transforming wireless Internet connectivity — within population centers — into a semblance of an ever-present universal access field.”
Leigh writes, “Fourth, historical examples suggest technological leaders might naturally evolve in such a manner.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Opportun” for the heads up.]
I remember reading about some kind of flying wing concept that circles above cities supplying wifi access. I think it was in Popular Science. Something like that would be perfect for Apple because there’s no infrastructure except keeping these cool flying wings forever circling. They’ve certainly got the cash to do it if the technology’s there, I’d sign up from day one to get away from my crappy service.
What about the fact that access to the Apple Cloud could be optimized.
This is a solid and logical proposition for Apple. It would create a near perpetual income stream. 20 or so years ago, a subsidiary of Li Ka Shing’s comms empire launched the Rabbit phone in England. It worked as a full phone network in the home. But you could receive calls when you were out provided you were near a cell point. You could not make calls. Cell points were common because small retailers could make some easy money by becoming cell points. It was easy to set up and used the normal phone lines. By today’s standards it was crude but it was hugely popular because it was a partial solution to mobility comms. Of course, when the cheap mobile phone arrived, the Rabbit died in a matter of a few months.
However, Wi-Fi and the Internet (also accessible through the ubiquitous phone line as we know) provide a much more workable, two-way voice or data communication network. The costs of rolling out such a service are lower than we might think as the node points could be based anywhere the ubiquitous phone line reaches, which is pretty much everywhere.
And if homes or businesses that agree to host a node point received a share of the revenue for traffic flowing through their node, they would likely accept a gradual amortisation of the cost of setting up their node by way of a low monthly license fee or repayment plan. As with everything else Apple does in selling to the crowd, participating node owners could make reasonable money for doing relatively little. Finding participants willing to pay to play in such a franchise, will not be difficult.
I don’t know about America, but when the National Lottery began in england, small shops rushed to become outlets. All they needed was a lottery terminal installed and customers arrived in droves. Not quite the same thing I know, but at the peak of the Rabbit phone system,many years earlier, retailers were queueing to become node points. It was a win-win situation and the cost of entry was low.
This is the kind of activity that could add some serious continuous income to Apple in a way that is entirely consistent with its growing strength in mobility comms. the cost to users would be very very low. That sounds very much like an Apple thing to do. Put the consumer in charge of what they have to pay. The likely outcome? Cellular operators would start to find some religion at long last.
Win-Win-Win.