Apple Denied Report Of Launching Its Own Wireless Service

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Apple rumors come and go with great frequency, but the company doesn’t usually outright confirm or deny rumors. Fans usually have to wait and see if the rumored product or update ever surfaces. In and effort to shut down rumors of Apple’s purported plans to launch the wireless mobile service, the tech giant recently confirmed to CNET it has no current or future plans to launch a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service.

Apple’s rumored mobile service

Business Insider’s James Cook initially sparked the report on Monday with a post suggesting Apple was in talks of launching their own mobile service. iPhone users are the most profitable for mobile carriers, but if major carriers like Verizon and AT&T sell excess capacity back to Apple, they would forfeit the customers. The major carriers give MVNOs (such as Boost Mobile, MetroPCS) get their voice and data services. Extra phones are sold to the smaller companies at a discount, the companies in turn peddle the phones with budget mobile plans.

Three years ago, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook claimed his company does not need to invest in carrier networks. He would rather maintain the focus on making quality devices, and leave the network operations to the carriers.

Apple previously considered patent for contract free iPhone

Neil Hughes for Apple Insider added, “Apple explored that approach before it launched the first iPhone, as revealed by patent filings that described a system that would automatically switch between multiple wireless carriers. The original concept would have had Apple sell the first iPhone contract-free on its own roaming network.”

Earlier in 2015, there were rumors suggesting Apple might ship the iPhone 6s with Apple SIM cards to give customers a choice when it comes to carriers. The Cupertino-based tech giant initially launched its own SIM card, but limited it to the iPad Air 2. Verizon was the only carrier who didn’t go along with it.  The carrier now only sells the LTE iPad and requires customers to obtain a separate SIM card from the provider.

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