Yesterday’s report came from Business Insider which claimed that Apple was working on its own wireless mobile service.
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In a statement (via Reuters) an Apple spokesperson wrote: “We have not discussed nor do we have any plans to launch an MVNO”. As per sources, Apple’s approach is long term, and it may take as long as five years for a full-fledged service.
Apple recently reported that it sold 48 million iPhones in the quarter through June, raking in US$31.4 billion (RM121.7 billion) in revenue, or 63 per cent of its total sales. Google recently announced Project Fi, an MVNO phone service that now serves Nexus 6 owners. The Apple launched its Sim in 2014, it has a similar concept, but scaled down for restricted use on cellular iPads. It would work just like service purchased directly from mobile carriers.
Rather than giving money to your carrier each month, you will give money to Apple directly for texts, calls, and data.
Apple filed a patent way back in 2006 featuring the diagrams below, detailing an MVNO set up in which Apple acts as the hub for a number of networks.
Business Insider quote sources close to Apple who say that the company is looking to get into the MVNO game.
And, of course, for Apple to even become an MVNO in the first place, it would effectively have to lease spectrum from carriers that it would then be competing with.
“There were reports about two years ago; what’s changed is that Google has launched an MVNO”. The Apple SIM is designed to connect to varying types of carriers which, when used, would allow one to switch between networks. The company is also planning to launch its own Siri-based voicemail service, iCloud Voicemail. So while a denial has been issued by Apple, the coming years may show the service materializing.
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We’ve already seen a bit of this flexibility with the Apple SIM for the Wi-Fi + Cellular models of the iPad Air 2 and third-generation iPad mini.
