When will the service be international?
Apple’s partner in satellite connectivity, Globalstar, continues to launch new satellites to support the expanding service. Regulatory filings from that company suggest it hopes to launch an additional 26 satellites by next year, with at least one report claiming it will have 3,000 in place eventually. At least one space expert thinks Apple will eventually choose to widen the network to become a full satellite-based communication service.
It is likely Apple will follow a cadence similar to the manner in which it made Emergency SOS via satellite available once that service was initially launched in the US and Canada. It opened up in France, Germany, Ireland, the UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, and the Netherlands across the following year and in Japan a year later.
A lesson for everyone
All of this is important in terms of saving lives and providing reassurance for families and friends of those in the disaster-hit areas, but the fact that these devices have helped maintain community resilience amid disaster might also be a salutatory lesson in business resilience. After all, other than avoiding platforms characterized by frequent ransomware attacks and spiralling ancillary security support costs, it just might be that smartphones equipped with satellite connectivity could become a vital business asset as we navigate an increasingly uncertain world.
