Well, here's the word. Apple with or without Google/AT&T will bid on the
700Mhz spectrum that will be auctioned by the US Government in January
of 2008. They need to buy about 22 Mhz of the spectrum (60Mhz is being
sold) to cover the entire country.
Now you understand why Apple didn't want to be locked into the old
3G
standard.
As you may know, AT&T bought Aloha Partners 700Mhz... about 10 Mhz or
about half the country. They need more. The market has vastly
underestimated Steve's influence at AT&T as well as the money Apple is
getting from AT&T.
The 700Mhz frequency is Gold in the sky! A wireless internet will one
day be all there is. Whoever owns this beach front property owns the
cell phone world. And no one will ever sell this to a competitor. Apple
must buy in or control this area if they are to control their cell phone
experience. And here's the best part.
As this network is already built out for analogue TV, it will cost
little to change things for Wimaxx. Instant nationwide network that goes
through walls way easier than any other Mhz band. So reception is
better, distance travels longer and coverage is nationwide just as
analogue TV is...and it will cost very little to maintain relative to
what cell phone companies compete with... you only need 1/4 of the sites
as the 1.8Ghz that most cell phones use. So others use a weaker signal
which equates to more lost calls and static, more sites, higher
expenses, etc..
Apple could pull of the coup d'etat of the century, if they said, buy
your cell phone and use our Wimaxx to dial any number in the US and
receive any call fo the monthly price of $0 for 2 years.... the iPhone
would be the hottest product even more so than the Razor was... just
think of a cell that is free for 2 years.. that's huge... what does
Apple gain from this...they could probably sell 100 million iPhones at
$299 each over a 2 year period or less and own the cell phone market.
Then charge $50 per month for unlimited calling plans... still a good
deal... and half or more of that would be profit! At say $30 per month
multiplied by 100 million iPhones that's 3 billion a month or 36 billion
per year... or $40 per share in earnings added to whatever else they
sell... you're talking a stock price over $1,000 a share... maybe even
$1,500.
If this takes 2-3-4-5 years... that's a 10 bagger! Apple will be the
largest publicly traded company in the country and own both the computer
and cell phone market.
---