Jobs drives towards elegant, uncluttered solutions. Much of his "vision" stems from his ability to say "No." to crappy stuff (http://blogs.forbes.com/carminegallo/2011/05/16/steve-jobs-g...).

This being the case, if I were Jobs - and if I wanted to own and operate a network - I'd want to build my own. But licenses for bandwidth are scare resources, and building a mobile network from scratch takes a long time. The most apparent way around this is to buy a carrier, as the author points out.

So, if Apple were to buy a carrier, yes, it'd be under very specific conditions. Basically, the Apple M&A team would be using a due diligence period to slice and dice the deal (and the carrier) in such a way to make sure Apple skims the cream, and is able to slough off the rest to someone else, and recuperate money off the divestiture, in the process. They would know how they were going to get this done, before they sign any contract, or there wouldn't be any deal.

The problem is, it's hard to see why another carrier would buy the legacy mobile infrastructure from Apple, w/o all the shiny new bits. Also, it's not clear that Apple would want to have to operate, manage, and upgrade a wireless network. I can't see Apple wanting to own a utility company.

So, on a different track, I think the author discounts the "soft carrier" approach too easily. In addition to saying "No." to crappy stuff, Jobs wants to enter markets where Apple can change the game. So, how would one change the game as a wireless carrier, not just as a mobile device manufacturer?

If I were Apple, I'd license spectrum from multiple carriers, depending on who has the strongest coverage in a particular geographic area.

Apple is already using the chips/antennas in the iPhones that support both the CMDA & GSM standards across all freqs. With licenses to operate AppleNet over multiple carriers, Apple would be uniquely situated to create smartphones and other mobile devices that could seamless operate over a multi-spectrum/multi-protocol virtual wireless network. Ultimately, Apple could license spectrum from multiple carriers in the same market, and have their iOS devices automagically switch from one to another without the customer noticing the handoffs. Plus, Apple can do the same in different markets, scaling AppleNet globally. Customers would have one AppleNet account, with "local" billing, regardless of where in the world they are.

Now, that would be a mobile market game changer. Again.

Of course, this multiple-licensee "soft carrier" approach to an AppleNet is probably a pipe dream, as well. The roadblock to innovation in the wireless industry, as always, are the wireless carriers. While stupid and slow, the carriers are cunning operators. They would likely see this move by Apple as being against their long-term interests, and resist Apple treating them as the utilities that they really are. Apple may be able to overcome their concerns by appealing to their short-term profit interests (a weakness of any publicly traded company), just like they did with AT&T and the original iPhone. But this time, if Apple were to make it happen, the short-term bait wouldn't be a shiney iPhone. It'd be good, old-fashioned, cold, hard CA$H monies.