Recently in Wireless Category
Canadian wireless spectrum auction & the iPhone
The list of bidders in Canada's wireless spectrum auction was released yesterday, and there was something notable within its pages.
There had been some speculation about the rumoured front runner, Niagara Networks, who had emerged from nowhere when they announced they were going to enter the auction with an $881 million deposit. Rumours emerged that they were being backed by AT&T and/or T-Mobile as a way for those companies to enter (or in AT&T's case re-enter) the Canadian wireless market. Some rumours even suggested that their entrance into bidding was secretly prompted by Apple.
When the list of bidders emerged yesterday, it noted that Niagara Networks had withdrawn their bid. What's important to note here is that the bid was withdrawn, not disqualified (as another in the list was). What does this mean? Well, one of two things - either the bid wasn't serious in the first place, or the bid was being used as leverage against another applicant on the list.
My theory, and it's only a theory with no basis in evidence, is that Apple was using Niagara Networks as a negotiation tool with Rogers as a way of bringing reasonable data rates to Canada. Sort of a "fine, if you won't work with us on this, you can work against us - we'll help finance a new entrant instead" move. If this is the case, the withdrawn bid would indicate a successful threat (and I say threat as opposed to bluff, since Apple would have only needed to commit about $350 million to the bid given Canadian ownership regulations - less than 2% of the $18 billion they have in cash reserves). It helps my argument that the president of Niagara Networks was a little cryptic in his statement:
"I can't tell you a lot, there's a lot of strategic things going on right now," he said. Asked what enterprise the firm is involved in at the moment, he replied: "We're preparing to bid in the auction ... I don't mean to be cryptic." (source)
I have this gut feeling that Apple will announce an iPhone in Canada in late June or early July (my bet? July 1, which just so happens to fall on a Tuesday, a day Apple traditionally likes to release new products).