Wed Sep 12, 2007 1:19 pm

Okay, let's deconstruct this baby!

1) <i>Brian Caulfield reasoned that profit margins in running a wireless network were too small</i> Last I heard, the iTunes music store profit margins were very small. By US business practices, they were infinitesimal, microscopic, smaller even than Microsoft's innovation capabilities. Yet Apple keeps it up to drive iPod sales, and it's doing a very good job of that.

2) <i>Apple could just as easily work with whomever does win the auction</i> And look how successful other team-ups have worked! Sears, Motorola, Target, just to name a few disasters. Apple delivers on their end, then the other company screws things up big time. So far the only serious complaints about the iPhone isn't the phone itself, it's with AT&T, who seems determined to screw up what should be the easiest success story in cell phone history. The biggest successes for Apple have been the ones where they can control the quality as much as possible, and having their own network would give them major oversight in quality control.

3) <i>"[You've got] billing issues, activation issues, quality of signal issues, all that kind of messy stuff that's out of your control even if you own it. Why would they want in?"</i> The same was said about the iTunes music store, and while it hasn't been perfect, or even smooth at times, it's still #1 and the standard others strive for.

4) <i>The article also pointed out that Apple CEO Steve Jobs lacks the kinds of contacts in the telephone market that allowed Apple to more easily enter the music industry.</i> They seem to think that modern telecommunication industry operates on the same level as high school social cliques. They also seem to have it backwards. Everybody is trying to hang out with Apple and Jobs so they can be one of the cool kids, Jobs doesn't need to hunt down people to sign his yearbook.

5) <i>He concluded with the idea that Apple's path of least resistance is to work with other companies, </i> Apple has never been about taking the path of least resistance. They worked hard just to take a gamble with the iPod, while microsoft took the path of least resistance with the Zune. Apple took the path less traveled and developed OS X, Microsoft took the mall escalator to make Vista (and still got off on the wrong floor). Apple pushes the envelope, others are scared to death of choosing the wrong color. Yet who gets all the headlines?

If anything, Forbes has convinced me that Apple will bid on some frequency. I'm buying more stock right now!

Wed Sep 12, 2007 5:08 pm

	Guest wrote:
	So far the only serious complaints about the iPhone isn't the phone itself, it's with AT&T, who seems determined to screw up what should be the easiest success story in cell phone history.

That's not exactly right. Maybe your only serious complaint is about that, but there are plenty of real issues with the device itself.