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Apple and Comcast are partnering for phone service

    by Jonathan Takiff, STAFF WRITER | Columnist
    Published 

Apple will be a hardware partner for the Xfinity Mobile phone service that Comcast expects to launch midyear.

Uncovered by FierceWireless.com, a list of carrier bundles compatible with the iPhone's next generation iOS includes "Verizon­_Comcast­_LTE US" and mentions the service "Xfinity Mobile." And in-house product testers already have a Xfinity Mobile support number to call, found the industry tracker.

In January, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told analysts "our offering will give customers access to a world-class wireless network benefiting from our Wi-Fi, with the best mobile devices and a simple transparent experience, all for a great value."

Comcast's 16 million Wi-Fi hot spots (public and hiding inside Xfinity internet customers' modems) will handle much of the service's traffic, with Verizon supplying the signal in Wi-Fi dead zones. That's akin to Google's Project Fi service, which mixes Wi-Fi where available with wireless from Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular to attain very competitive pricing.

Will Xfinity Mobile launch in tandem with the much anticipated, tenth anniversary iPhone 8? That would be auspicious.