Globalstar FCC filing (slightly) hints at Apple’s future plans

Image c/o mmntz/Flickr

I really like Fridays. It’s always late on Friday afternoon when something slips out that I could otherwise have spent a day researching and working on. And today’s neat news drop relates to Apple, Globalstar, and their ambitions for satellite iPhones.

So, what is today’s late news?

Reading between the lines

First, a hat tip to Michael Kan who happened to spot an FCC filing from Globalstar which he argues (and I think he’s right) suggests the company is working with Apple to expand what satellite functions are available to iPhones.

Kan tells us the filing was made in reaction to a plan from T-Mobile and SpaceX (remember how they tried to spoil the party when the iPhone satellite news first broke?).

That plan saw T-Mobile claim that the devices we have around today don’t yet support mobile satellite service signals.

This i not strictly true, of course, given that iPhones (the top-selling smartphone in the US, I believe) already do just that.

Apple’s satellite partner speaks

This is how Globalstar explained it:

“Globalstar is already supporting direct-to-device MSS for emergency communications and thereby delivering extraordinary public interest benefits globally, including in rural and remote areas.”

Though I guess there’s some semantic arguments that might be made, but that’s not for me to decide.

All I know is that if you can sit in the middle of the Arizona desert and use Emergency SOS on satellite to get help, I reckon that’s a ubiquitous device.

Moving on…

Kan says he thinks the statements made in the filing support the idea that Apple and Globalstar may work to bring satellite-based voice calls and internet to Apple devices. I think that’s extremely plausible.

Now, this is all very exciting, but I don’t see this quite yet – I think this will be a feature as and when we shift closer to 6G provision, but the entire story most certainly qualifies as a good late Friday tale.

Enjoy your weekend.

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