
Ask HN: Why Is Apple Not An MVNO Yet? - toomuchtodo
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Mobile_virtual_network_operator<p>Is there a reason Apple hasn’t moved to be a virtual carrier yet? They’re usually concerned about ensuring a great experience for their users, which becoming an MVNO and being their user’s carrier would help them accomplish.<p>They could terminate SMS messages on their end so every message is an iMessage, instead of only those messages between Apple devices (which would also mean devices wouldn’t be responsible for syncing SMS messages into iCloud). Voicemails could be transcribed and displayed in Messages as well.<p>TL;DR Where is Apple’s version of Google’s Project Fi?
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mikece
Running an NVMO seems like a massive hassle; if there's no profit in it then
there's less of an incentive. And while an Apple NVMO could confine it's
support to a very narrow set of hardware there would still be something very
un-Apple about the whole thing: inability to CONTROL the physical network on
which the NVMO is operating... even more so if, like Google Fi, more than one
physical network is involved. I don't know if Google is in the FI business for
making money so much as creating an exclusive option for owners of Pixels and
a handful of other approved handsets. Apple doesn't seem to have problem
selling expensive phones so having a network to manage/coordinate is a
headache they really don't need.

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PaulHoule
I think of MVNOs being downmarket.

For instance, with Tracfone you can get a prepaid "dumbphone" for about $100 a
year. That's about what a government subsidy for low-income people would pay.

Even though Republicans would like to make you go to the carrier to get a
subsidized phone. Carriers don't like it because they don't want their
customers to know they could get cheaper plans. So Verizon's attitude is that
"Tracfone is our prepaid service" and that's a not a bad answer because TF is
serious about what it does.

It's not to say that an upmarket MVNO is impossible, but I don't see the point
of an upmarket brand like iPhone being connected with a downmarket service.

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Eridrus
I don't think any of the things you suggested require Apple to be an MVNO, and
being an MVNO is a low margin business since you don't actually own anything,
and would drive even more strife with the existing carriers. Project Fi gets
away with it because it's a tiny player that has no marketing or retail
presence and basically exists for the nerds.

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toomuchtodo
Couldn’t Apple get away with it because they’d need no marketing? They have
their stores, Apple.com, and could accept Apple Pay as payment. The sales
channels exist, the payment infra exists, and I imagine the systems/ops infra
exists as they double down on their own data centers for iCloud.

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Eridrus
My point was that carriers aren't particularly concerned about Project Fi,
because it isn't trying to be a mass market carrier. Apple getting into the
game would probably cause more consternation because it's harder for Apple to
do anything without it being repeated by every news outlet.

