Here is a great piece of Forbes about Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), including some discussions about the possibility for Apple to become an MVNO themselves to bolster their iPod market dominance by offering music on mobiles. Overall this is a pretty good piece anticipating the positioning other potential MVNOs could pursue, such as a Wal-Mart MVNO targeting frugal and credit-challenged customers with cheap prepaid offerings.
Theres one little bit in here that still just bugs me about the objections wireless carriers seem to be having to Apple (and others) plans for music on mobiles. This comment is based on the fact that an Apple music phone is likely to support synchronization between a users music collection on a PC to the phone using a USB, Firewire or Bluetooth connection. Of this possibility a quoted analyst had this to say:
But Apple might have a problem getting the devices into consumers’ hands. Carriers will probably be loath to sell and support it, since they want to sell their own music downloads–not have customers upload tunes from home. “The carriers don’t like it,” says analyst Rob Enderle, head of The Enderle Group. “They want Apple to change the design so the phone has to sync through their networks, not with a PC.”
This insistence on the part of carriers that the music should come over their networks, and no doubt at high cost, is very annoying. Wireless carriers need to get over their bad selves. Its all fine and good to offer music over their networks as functionality to customers when customers are on the go but want audio content right away. The carriers’ wide area networks can provide some value add in the form of immediate gratification. However, theres no reason to cripple customers’ hardware like this and charge them a fortune for something they would be able to do relatively easy and with no additional expense or utility when they’re at their PCs. If Im at my PC, using a wide area network provides me no additional value over just using a cable or Bluetooth, so why would I be willing to pay a premium to have that content on my phone?
As a customer, I can tell you for certain I wouldnt buy this in a phone if downloading over the providers network were the only way to get audio content onto the phone. Id probably just stick with my trusty dedicated audio device (my iPod) which doesnt charge me a premium just to move my music on to it from my computer.
