“Recently, I gave a speech at a company and one of the executives raised an interesting question: Will Apple or Google — or both — enter the wireless networking fray, just as both have become competitors in the smartphone side of the business? I believe the answer is yes. ‘How’ is the question,” Jeff Kagan writes for E-Commerce Times.
“Five years ago, the wireless business changed. Before then, it was growing, but not as fast. Nokia and RIM were the top two handset makers. Wireless data use was increasing, but not exploding like today,” Kagan writes. “When Apple and Google jumped in with the iPhone and Android OS, they quickly transformed the entire smartphone sector.”
Kagan writes, “If they jump into the network space, they could upset another apple cart just as dramatically and just as quickly. The No. 1 and 2 networks may become Google and Apple, pushing Verizon and AT&T down to No. 3 and 4. The question is not whether they will get into the network business. I am sure this will happen. The question is how. Will Apple and Google become resellers, sort of like Tracfone, which resells AT&T and Verizon? Or will one of them acquire Sprint Nextel.”
Read more in the full article here.