Apple brings Emergency SOS by satellite to Portugal and more

About to be available in Portugal plus several other European nations.

Hola! Boas notícias para o meu país favorito, pois a Apple em breve ativará o SOS de emergência em Portugal. Good news for my favorite country as Apple will soon enable Emergency SOS in Portugal and elsewhere in Europe.

Emergency SOS hits new nations

Buried in the Apple release announcing introduction of the new yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus the company confirmed it will launch its Emergency SOS via satellite and Find My via satellite services in Portugal this month.

It will also introduce them in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands. These nations join Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, UK and US where the service is already available. If you own an iPhone 14 device you can use the service to place emergency calls, share location, and track objects.

In emergencies, the service connects users to relay centres staffed by Apple-trained emergency specialists who are ready to contact Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) — or emergency services call centres.

The service is free for two years starting at the time of activation of a new iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. It makes these devices even more powerful in emergencies.

The space race is a big business

Apple is making huge investments in the project and its agreement with its selected satellite communications provider, Globalstar, suggests it will invest much, much more.

The deal with GlobalStar means it is taking 85% of the satellite company’s network capacity, which means other companies can’t make use of GlobalStar’s network. The satellite company is committed to get all the satellites Apple has co-paid for up in the air by 2025, which indicates service and geographic extension.

Putting a little context around this activity, Ericsson, Qualcomm, and Thales recently announced plans to create a global 5G network using satellites, which suggests most in the industry are exploring in similar direction.

Apple already holds patents for expanding the service to handle photos, videos and other media applications, and two-way messaging seems a completely logical next step.

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