Watch The Proposition Online Ibtimes SportA few betting odds are mentioned on this page httpwww. Watch English Premier League Live. Swansea City vs Manchester United Live Streaming Information. Swansea will not be an easy proposition. The Case for Apple and Space Internet The Motley Fool. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. There are some pretty compelling indications that Apple NASDAQ AAPL is interested in space internet, given the companys recent hiring of spacecraft and satellite experts. While Apple could be up to something else, building a constellation of satellites to beam gigabit internet to Earth could make sense on so many levels. Lets look at this potential moonshot from every angle, and by the end I think youll agree with me Apple should do it. Image source Getty Images. Steve Jobs wanted to create a cell network. There are old stories about how Steve Jobs had envisioned Apple creating a cell network for the i. Phone, vertically integrating into that part of the value chain. Apple originally thought of building a network on unlicensed spectrum bands like the ones that Wi Fi currently operate in. While removing dependence on carriers sounds appealing on a strategic level, the idea didnt make it that far, probably since building a network is massively expensive the largest U. IBTimes was launched in 2005. Official website Watch Channel 4 News online ITN. Channel 4 News at the BFIs Screenonline. The Shopkeepera must see movie for the artist rights movement Artist Rights Watch. S. carriers spend 2. Separately, there had been more recent rumors of Apple creating a mobile virtual network operator MVNO, buying wholesale capacity from the carriers and reselling it under its own brand. CEO Tim Cook promptly squashed that scuttlebutt in 2. Apple considered the idea. Why Apple keeps thinking about networks. At the same time, you may have noticed that depending on third party carriers has become a liability for Apple in some markets, particularly emerging ones. LTE coverage is quite poor in many parts of the world, which severely compromises the value proposition of mobile devices. For example, Cook has cited poor LTE penetration as one of Apples key hurdles in India, but India isnt alone in this regard. Creating a space internet network has the potential to free Apple from third party network road maps, directly bringing high speed connectivity to every corner of the Earth. Importantly, this would allow Apple to sell an i. Phone to anyone, anywhere. Watch The Proposition Online Ibtimes UkSatellite phones have been around for decades, but have historically been relegated to military and industrial uses due to the high costs. Regular cellphones are perfectly sufficient for the average consumer. But Apple has a long history of democratizing high end technologies and bringing those technologies to the mainstream. Services revenue potential. We already know that Space. Is Ibtimes Credible' title='Is Ibtimes Credible' />X is planning its own space internet network, which could launch as early as 2. Thanks to documents leaked to The Wall Street Journal earlier this year, we also know the companys financial forecasts. Space. X estimates that it could generate 3. If we use those figures, that translates into about 7. Phone 6. 95 in the fourth quarter. At 6. 2. 5. 0 per month, thats just slightly higher than what consumers currently pay for cell service. Space. X launch from January 2. Image source Space. X. Another challenge for Apple in emerging markets has been the premium pricing of the i. Phone. Imagine if Apple were to bundle i. Phones with integrated service beamed down from the stars. Knowing that it could collect recurring revenue, Apple could justify lowering the upfront cost of the device itself in order to spur unit sales. On top of that, the company could improve its already high user retention, and still count on hardware upgrades at regular intervals. Lets call it i. Phone and Space Internet as a Service i. PSIaa. S. Kidding. Watch The Comancheros IMDB. This is all in line with Apples growing services ambitions, and I think we can all agree that space internet is the ultimate service. A small price to pay. Of course, we have to consider the cost to build and deploy such a network. Facebook had tapped Space. X to launch an internet satellite to bring connectivity to rural Africa last year, but the rocket unfortunately exploded on the launch pad. It was a 2. 00 million satellite intended for geostationary orbit, hovering above the Earth with an orbital velocity matching the Earths rotation so that it would appear fixed to terrestrial observers. That would allow the internet satellite to provide continuous coverage for a designated geographical region. Apple could surgically launch internet satellites in regions that have the most strategic value namely, emerging markets where cellular network infrastructure is immature. Over time, perhaps Apple could expand to developed markets, threatening carriers in the process, but there would be much less need to start there. Each Space. X launch costs a little over 6. For Apple, those costs are quite reasonable given how much a space internet initiative would make sense.