Apple’s Ability to Dominate Wireless-huh?
In Mobile | 1 comment | permalink
Fortune writes an article entitled “How an iPhone Could Rock Wireless.” Despite being a big fan of Fortune, I must admit I’m a bit tired of the sensationalism that main stream media perpetuates about Apple.
Yes, Apple revolutionalized the MP3 player and made something mainstream that was slowly being adopted. Can the same be said for mobile phone technology? No. Cellphones are widespread, the technology behind it is expensive and the encumbents are firmly entrenched. Some would argue that music on the phone is not widespread and with that I would agree.
So what’s the differentiation? iTunes on my phone. A cool thought. I’ve often wished that my Blackberry (which I use for a cell phone as well) could contain my iTunes library of music, video and podcasts. However, Apple’s entry into this market isn’t nearly as easy as some would suggest.
The mobile phone industry is not just about cool phones or the software (mobile phone, iTunes or otherwise)–it’s about the capital costs required to build the network.
The suggestion that Apple would bypass the Telcos and utilize wi-fi or wi-max technology is beyond absurd. Wi-fi is nowhere near ubiquitous in major cities let alone suburban or rural settings in which people depend on receiving cell phone service. Would I be willing to sacrifice the coverage of my cell phone just to have a cool looking cell phone that played iTunes even if it worked in the city? I don’t think so.
So What? Is Apple cool, creative and innovative? Absolutely. Are they any where near ready to dominate the mobile phone industry just because they design a cool device which includes music library software? Uh, I don’t think so.
Tags: Apple, Fortune, mobile, cellphone, iTunes, wi-fi, carriers, music
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Sphere It
well I think one key issue is missing in this article you linked. To me, ipod is not a successful product because it is a cool, easy to use, bla bla mp3 player, it is very popular because it is connected to a bigger user-friendly social system which is itunes. Therefore I guess rather than having an iphone on my hand, I would rather have an itunes running in my blackberry which I am already almost addicted to. So for me, the question is how can itunes become the operating system to download and listen music/video for all mobile devices?