The Wireless World Up for Grabs

The biggest drawback for many iPhone enthusiasts has been that, to use it, you must switch to AT&T’s mobile phone service. Every network has its weak spots, and if your home sits in one of AT&T’s, no iPhone for you.

Apple was certainly intent on changing the market, but mobile phones aren’t truly mobile, as Randall Stross wrote in The New York Times last week. To get in the race, then, Apple had to pick a single network horse.

The Federal Communications Commission could change that, and much more, with an anxiously awaited decision that is expected on Tuesday, The Washington Post reports today. At stake is $15 billion worth of airwaves that will be suddenly become available when the nation fully converts to high-definition television broadcasting. That’s supposed to happen by February 19, 2009.