Had Apple Made The iPhone To T-Mobile in 2007 Too, The Mobile Landscape Would Be Much Different

I'm a T-Mobile subscriber and will be leaving them after almost a decade of relationship.  Along the way, the iPhone came and it was pretty awesome that we could use our iPhones on the network and bypass AT&T altogether even if it meant that we would not be enjoying 3G speed.  

But imagine how things might have turned out had Apple also made a deal with T-Mobile as well. I think a lot of things would be very different.

• Complaints against AT&T's network would not have been so dramatic as it was. The burden may have been shared by T-Mobile.  However, it would have meant more people signing up for the iPhone on T-Mobile instead of waiting.
• T-Mobile likely would have experienced subscriber growth.
• It may well be Sprint that is the smallest of the four major US carriers.
• Verizon would have still be forced into Google's arms but experience greater pain in the marketplace as T-Mobile provides a better avenue for most to leave for the iPhone.
• T-Mobile might have grown fat and lazy like AT&T but it also knew that it needed a true 4G network.  
• T-Mobile might be in third place but a strong third place.  Right now, it's a weak 4th.

Still, there is time.  More people than not want out of AT&T and I reckon once Apple releases the iPhone 5, we could still see T-Mobile flourish.  Should the AT&T and T-Mobile merger not go through, T-Mobile could be in a prime position to take third if it plays the game correctly.

It will have gained billions and additional spectrum as a result of the breakup fee from AT&T.  It could use that to strength its HPSA+ network which can match up nicely against LTE networks from Verizon and AT&T that are still in their early stages of deployment.  

Meanwhile, there are other companies that T-Mobile can deal with for LTE networks.  

Furthermore, should the deal fall apart, T-Mobile could still be a takeover target for someone else.  Perhaps a cable company.

5.3" Smartphone or Tablet? Samsung Note Tries To Be Both

Check out Samsung's new 5.3" Note - I guess it's a tablet. It can also be a smartphone like its Galaxy S II but with a bigger screen.  Whatever, I do like it.  However, I would only be interested if this was just a tablet with cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity but not as a phone.

Here are some well known specs:

Fortune's Post About A Bigger AT&T With T-Mobile In Its Belly Would Mean Lower Cost But Not For Customers

This Fortune post got it right.  The meger between AT&T and T-Mobile would mean it would cost less for the mega-AT&T to serve about 130 million users than serving just 100 million users.  It's simply economics.  What the post failed to say is that these cost savings won't translate to lower bills for the customers.

It's about maximizing profit for the company and, ultimately, adding value to the shareholders.  Billings to customers will be the same.  Elimination of a competitor that prides itself with value mobile plans means it won't have to worry about customers looking for a better value.  It also means AT&T is free to increase prices if it wants since customers will not longer have the choice to go to another GSM carrier.

So, when the author, Scott Woolley of Fortune, said that AT&T overlooked this argument for the merger, it most certainly did not.  In fact, had it brought this argument up, it might not have worked in its favor.

As I've said before, none of AT&T arguments for the merger made any sense at all.  Some of its own figures seem to go against the merger at times.  

Furthermore, othing in AT&T's arguments support the merger mention cost savings would be passed along to customers.  Why?  Because it won't.  And while AT&T dangled a carrot, hiring 5,000 more employees should the deal go through, its history said that job cuts will happen else where in the new company.  

If anything, Woolley should just come out and say what's on everyone's mind.  It's about greed.  Just now, we learned that AT&T has eliminated a popular feature called A-List that allow users to pick up to ten friends that they select for unlimited calling (Electronista).  

Greed.  That's what this merger is about.  Plain and simply.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Source:  Fortune.

Note:  Most of the time, I find mergers to be very exciting news for the market  It generally does create opportunities.  Here through, that's not the case.

20 Million iPads Sold During the Summer Quarter? Not Surprised if True

TUAW is reporting that Apple may have sold about 20 million iPads over the summer quarter.  Is it possible?  Definitely and I can't wait to see just what kind of effect this has on the larger PC market.

Now, the source of the post, DigiTimes, is in my opinion, a click whore but one has to take what they say and compare it with reality.  And the reality is that Apple was facing the mother of all backlog for the iPad 2.

And with back-to-school and the Greater Chinese market, there is a lot of demand.  And while the post said that Foxconn "shipped" twenty million iPads, chances are that Apple sold most of it and kept a couple of million in reserve.

Since it had some in reserve to start the quarter, saying that Apple sold twenty million iPads would not be out of line.

Source:  TUAW.

Best Buy Cuts $50-$150 Off Playbooks; Another Fire Sale Coming?

Looks like we could be in for another fire sale.  This time around, it'll be RIM's Playbook.  Best Buy will be lobbing off $50 on the 16 GB model and up to $150 on the 64 GB model.

I've said this a few times already.  These 7" tablets priced around $500 are going to have to contend with 7" Honeycomb or Android 4 devices that will cost about $300.  

I know the Playbook is a very solidly build device and is probably worth the premium but so is the 16 GB iPad coming in at $500.  And RIM did itself a disservice by releasing the Playbook when it was half-baked as far as the software was concerned.  

I've also postulated that the new $999 is now the $499 for tablets.  If a device maker wants to compete with the iPad at the $499 and up, they would need to offer "premium" features and services that Apple cannot match.  

 

Source:  Electronista.

Sprint Study Shows AT&T Will Kill Jobs, AT&T Responded; Looking At AT&T History, I'm With Sprint

Sprint released an economic study by an University of California at Irvine, David Neumark, said flatly that AT&T's merger history showed that is has eliminated over 100K jobs since 2002.

There are a bunch of other figures that used numbers based on assumptions.  That happened on both sides in this particular matter.  What is given is that mergers ultimately mean job losses due to duplication, especially in this case where both companies are in the same market.  After all, mergers between two companies in the same market is to create value and eliminate waste.

Now, if AT&T had bought a supermarket chain, I would be more prone to agree that it is not not as likely to cut jobs.  After all, it's unlike that its wireless customer service reps are going to be expected to be working at checkout counters or stocking shelves.

And while AT&T did promise to bring back 5K jobs, it did not promise it would not cut jobs elsewhere.

This merger between AT&T and T-Mobile is about killing off a competitor.  AT&T is looking to knock off the only other GSM operator in the US.  No more, no less.

Source:  Techcrunch.

Apple Brings All Cloud Services And Stores Under One Control

Eddie Cue is now a senior vice president, in change of all things Apple that is online.  Though this may not look like much but mark this date.  Apple is going all in with this could business.  

We might not see it today or next year.  However, iCloud will looked markedly different 5 years from what it'll be like in the fall.  In fact it may not take that long.  

When I read this first thing today, I thought the man would be overburdened.  Not so if Apple has a clear head about what they want.  They're past cloud efforts haven't been all that great but it seems with iCloud, they've turned the corner.