iCell MVNO

Via Slashdot, this ars technica article talks about a recent trademark registered by Apple and how it points to a cell phone product.

From the article:

"Last week, Apple filed four applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office for the term "Mobile Me." According to the filings, Mobile Me relates to a number of goods and services, including "telecommunication services for the dissemination of information by mobile telephone, namely the transmission of data to mobile telephones" along with "music players," "digital video players," "MP3 players," and "software related thereto."

Getting into the cellular services business is easier these days, thanks to the likes of Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Cingular, and their support for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO). An MVNO is a company that leases bandwidth, infrastructure, and time from a carrier and then rebrands and resells it. The best-known MVNO in the US is arguably Virgin Mobile, which also operates on Sprint's network.

As this would fall into the category of "unannounced products," we don't expect Apple will have much to say about "Mobile Me." But don't be surprised if there's another special event in the next couple of months. After all, Jobs concluded his Macworld keynote with "see you soon."