This p research paper discusses the new marketing possibilities of bringing the mobile phone services to the consumer.
Iridium LLC became the world's first global satellite phone and paging company on November 1, 1998. An expensive network of 66 low-earth orbiting satellites, combined with terrestrial cellular systems, enabled customers to communicate virtually anywhere in the world using one phone and pager, one phone number, and receiving one monthly bill.
The normally sedate Telecom Weekly (1998) said this "The Iridium satellite phone might just be the coolest, most fashionable tech toy of the year. There has never been anything like it. You can make a call from absolutely anywhere on Earth. In a city, you can use it like a roaming cell phone because it's adaptable to nearly every country's cellular system. Out in the wilds, you can turn on the much more expensive satellite capabilities. There is even an Iridium pager" ("Satellite News" 1998, 3).
The phones promise to talk on all cellular networks, but come with a high price. Made by either Motorola or Japan's Kyocera, each phone costs almost $3000-$4000 when loaded with all the attachments that make it work on every cellular network. In addition, the cost of a satellite call is about $3 a minute, sometimes more, depending on the part of the world the caller is in.
The idea of satellite phones fascinated investors at first, especially when the marketing efforts pictured globetrotting executives who were willing to pay any price to stay in touch with the home or office. In addition, the concept of satellite mobile phones tended to confuse the already confused customer. When the Satellite phone concept began to emerge in 1996, traditional cellular marketing strategies were challenged on all fronts.
New competitors, new retail outlets, high up-front investment in handsets and the PCS carriers' elimination of long-term service contracts created an increasingly c...