Apple and the Revenge of the Phone Carriers

By Roben Farzad – Apple is the largest, most dominant and highly valued company on the planet. It’s measured against entire gross national products. Doubt it at your peril. And yet Apple does not control its own destiny.

“The iPhone,” says analyst Walter Piecyk of brokerage BTIG, “is squeezing margins at wireless operators.” He explains how the carriers’ subsidies, which average about...