Apple is consider joining the FCC’s 700MHz auction, reports Business Week.
Two sources tell BusinessWeek that Steve Jobs & Co. have studied the implications of joining the auction, which will be held Jan. 16.
At this point, says one of the sources, Apple is leaning against participating in the auction. It’s not the money. With nearly $14 billion in cash, the company can clearly afford the $4.6 billion minimum bid required by the government, and could probably come up with the $9 billion that’s expected to win a portion of the spectrum to be made available for a nationwide network.
Rather, the risk for Apple is in entering the generally low-margin, hardscrabble world of running a massive-scale network. Rather than focus all of Apple’s entrepreneurial instincts on creating the next innovative gizmo, the company would be on the hook for the massive operational headaches that go with provisioning traffic, activating new subscribers, and fielding their angry calls when service glitches occur.
If it owned its own spectrum, Apple could provide the network service itself, possibly for far less than the $1,440 iPhone owners must now fork out over the course of the cheapest two-year contract. For example, Apple could hold down costs by letting users choose a Net telephony program such as Skype rather than develop its own voice software, say analysts…
…If Apple went to a voice-is-free approach or to a flat fee, many of the administrative tasks—bill tracking, or detailed call data, for example—would be largely unnecessary. And since no lawns would need to be dug up to make way for new fiber cables, Apple could connect homes for less than $300, compared with more than $800 for fiber, say experts . . .
Meanwhile, the Google phone will reportedly launch in Q1 2008. Several models are rumored to be manufactured by HTC. The feature-set may include:
- A Linux-based operating system, with a user interface rendered in Java (as well as the ability to run Java applications).
- The ability to play multimedia files, including MP3s and videos.
- A Web browser based either in Java or Safari WebKit, the same code as the browser on Apple’s iPhone.
- Software including a GPS-enabled Google Maps and the full suite of Google’s applications, including Gmail and Calendar as well as Google Docs.
- A physical qwerty keypad rather than a software-based keyboard like the iPhone.
