If Apple decides to build a wireless phone, as widely rumored, the company has the chance to shake up not just the wireless device business, says Business Week. It also could upend the entire wireless distribution model in the United States.
Other rumors have Apple building a phone with built-in Wi-Fi service that would allow customers to make calls and download data and music from the free or cheap Wi-Fi networks proliferating in urban and suburban settings, bypassing traditional cellular networks. Both scenarios underscore Jobs’ aversion to ceding control to telcos such as Cingular, Verizon (Charts), T-Mobile and Sprint (Charts), which exercise huge control over the entire wireless food chain in the U.S.
Or Apple could pursue a path similar to the one forged by traditional wireless phone makers, and sell its iPhone through the carriers - an option that probably doesn’t appeal to Jobs, but gives him an opportunity to reach the largest possible number of U.S. consumers. But no matter how Apple decides to enter the wireless phone market, it is sure to change the status quo.
