One day after a Business Insider report claimed Apple is testing its own mobile wireless service, Apple is shutting the rumor down. In no uncertain terms, the company has told CNBC that it has not discussed and has no current plans to become an MVNO — the term used for companies that offer their own cellular service on existing mobile networks.
That strongly refutes the Business Insider story, which said that Apple had already begun testing of such a service in the United States and was working to finalize deals that would bring it to Europe. The report said Apple's MVNO wouldn't launch for at least five years, but Apple's response today is a pretty clear indication that the rumored project doesn't actually exist. If it did, the company's reaction would likely be one of silence.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had once expressed interesting in an Apple-branded mobile service in the lead up to the launch of iPhone, but the company ultimately determined it wasn't a viable path and instead has relied on traditional carriers since the phone's release in 2007.