"SpaceX has a group of Starlink satellites that its using to use for its own brand of internet connectivity. The company has hyped this product for years -- and there are on-the-ground installations in Ukraine -- but the overall roll-out has been slow."
What is this paragraph trying to say? That there is a subset of Starlink satellites providing some sort of different service? Because there are over 500,000 Starlink subscribers across the planet--hardly "hype"
There is no argument to be made that Musk has hit his promised targets for the roll-out when the reality is that he is behind by years on his targets. That is the literal definition of "overall roll-out has been slow."
I have no idea what his announced targets have been, but by describing the current subscriber base as simply consisting of stations in Ukraine and ignoring the reality of a half-million subscribers is just really odd. Honestly I think the author is completely unaware of Starlink's subscriber and satellite count and is working with 2021 numbers.
Oh ffs. The rollout has been slow.
Apple has a billion iPhone user base and growing, so half a million subscribers to Starlink to date looks like a rounding error to Apple.
There is quite a difference between people needing a phone (everyone?) and people needing Starlink because they have no other option for the use-case.
Not sure why he'd boast about having meetings when the clear outcome of any such meeting is that Starlink didn't have anything Apple was interested in. Just wants to be the news, I guess.
Do you think it's possible there are additional future plays in this game that might involve an Apple/Starlink relationship?
Anything is possible, but I highly doubt it, can’t foresee any likely collaboration, and would be disappointed that Apple would have anything to do with the Musk Marketing Machine.
I hope iPhone 14 buyers fully understand the very limited scope of the phone's satellite capability. Apple was very clear about it during the announcement, but you know how these things can sometimes turn out.
you mean how many dumb people exist? LOL
99% of people at this moment think the iPhone 14 is also a satellite phone.
Sadly, I think you are correct. It's more of a very low bandwidth telemetry link than a "communication feature." What Apple has done is more equivalent to commercial satellite asset tracking devices. When you look at the size of those dedicated-function devices it becomes even more apparent that Apple's implementation in an already feature laden smartphone is very impressive.
But yeah, it'll be just a few days post iPhone 14 release until someone starts complaining that they can't get their Tiktok video or selfies uploaded when they are completely outside the range of any cellular coverage.
From Wikipedia, Globalstar have 24 LEO satellites providing worldwide coverage. So their orbits should be well-known to the iPhone (based on time and GPS location).
So why doesn't the iPhone 14 need a big dish? Because the data rate is VERY LOW, probably 10's of kb/s or even lower. This makes the required signal-to-noise ratio to get the signal out very low, so a small (poor performance) antenna on the iPhone would be sufficient IF pointed correctly (directly at one of the 24 satellites).
Apple mentioned that a data compression algorithm will greatly minimize the amount of data to be sent, so sending a few hundred bytes at a very slow rate would take less than a minute, or a few minutes with several retries. I would expect some sort of error correction in the data to help with transmission accuracy. See Shannon's limit.
What I don't know is if there is an acknowledgement back to the iPhone. I eagerly await AI's promised article on the physics behind this service!
Edit: upon second thought, an ack to the iPhone should be possible, as the weak link (no pun intended) is the iPhone-to-satellite connection. The satellite has much higher power than the iPhone, so I suspect you will get an ack on the iPhone.
"SpaceX has a group of Starlink satellites that its using to use for its own brand of internet connectivity. The company has hyped this product for years -- and there are on-the-ground installations in Ukraine -- but the overall roll-out has been slow."
What is this paragraph trying to say? That there is a subset of Starlink satellites providing some sort of different service? Because there are over 500,000 Starlink subscribers across the planet--hardly "hype"
There is no argument to be made that Musk has hit his promised targets for the roll-out when the reality is that he is behind by years on his targets. That is the literal definition of "overall roll-out has been slow."
I have no idea what his announced targets have been, but by describing the current subscriber base as simply consisting of stations in Ukraine and ignoring the reality of a half-million subscribers is just really odd. Honestly I think the author is completely unaware of Starlink's subscriber and satellite count and is working with 2021 numbers.
Oh ffs. The rollout has been slow.
Apple has a billion iPhone user base and growing, so half a million subscribers to Starlink to date looks like a rounding error to Apple.
There is quite a difference between people needing a phone (everyone?) and people needing Starlink because they have no other option for the use-case.
Starlink for internet service I understand well.
What Apple is providing is a simpler, text only service that will be available to all iPhone 14 users, at no charge for two years, initially limited to Canada and the U.S.
Given the market size for Apple in North America, that's something on the order of 50 Million users gaining the service over the next year. The question becomes, where does Apple go from there, and Starlink isn't necessarily the answer, albeit SpaceX may still be a part of the solution, as a launch platform.
"SpaceX has a group of Starlink satellites that its using to use for its own brand of internet connectivity. The company has hyped this product for years -- and there are on-the-ground installations in Ukraine -- but the overall roll-out has been slow."
What is this paragraph trying to say? That there is a subset of Starlink satellites providing some sort of different service? Because there are over 500,000 Starlink subscribers across the planet--hardly "hype"
There is no argument to be made that Musk has hit his promised targets for the roll-out when the reality is that he is behind by years on his targets. That is the literal definition of "overall roll-out has been slow."
I have no idea what his announced targets have been, but by describing the current subscriber base as simply consisting of stations in Ukraine and ignoring the reality of a half-million subscribers is just really odd. Honestly I think the author is completely unaware of Starlink's subscriber and satellite count and is working with 2021 numbers.
Oh ffs. The rollout has been slow.
Apple has a billion iPhone user base and growing, so half a million subscribers to Starlink to date looks like a rounding error to Apple.
Seems like an apples and oranges comparison. No pun intended.
Seems like you failed to mention that there are today, and will be tomorrow, competitors to Starlink, including Amazon, and hence, why Apple isn't moved by a mere half a million subscribers in a nascent market.
Those "competitors" may never make it off the ground. Amazon/Blue Origin has NEVER launched ANYTHING into orbit to date. And if they ever do, they will always be YEARS behind Starlink.
Some of the others are bigger players and have sats in orbit now, but they are still way behind Starlink, and will probably always be playing catch up... Again, probably a consistent couple of years behind Starlink.
"SpaceX has a group of Starlink satellites that its using to use for its own brand of internet connectivity. The company has hyped this product for years -- and there are on-the-ground installations in Ukraine -- but the overall roll-out has been slow."
What is this paragraph trying to say? That there is a subset of Starlink satellites providing some sort of different service? Because there are over 500,000 Starlink subscribers across the planet--hardly "hype"
There is no argument to be made that Musk has hit his promised targets for the roll-out when the reality is that he is behind by years on his targets. That is the literal definition of "overall roll-out has been slow."
I have no idea what his announced targets have been, but by describing the current subscriber base as simply consisting of stations in Ukraine and ignoring the reality of a half-million subscribers is just really odd. Honestly I think the author is completely unaware of Starlink's subscriber and satellite count and is working with 2021 numbers.
Oh ffs. The rollout has been slow.
Apple has a billion iPhone user base and growing, so half a million subscribers to Starlink to date looks like a rounding error to Apple.
Seems like an apples and oranges comparison. No pun intended.
Seems like you failed to mention that there are today, and will be tomorrow, competitors to Starlink, including Amazon, and hence, why Apple isn't moved by a mere half a million subscribers in a nascent market.
Those "competitors" may never make it off the ground. Amazon/Blue Origin has NEVER launched ANYTHING into orbit to date. And if they ever do, they will always be YEARS behind Starlink.
Some of the others are bigger players and have sats in orbit now, but they are still way behind Starlink, and will probably always be playing catch up... Again, probably a consistent couple of years behind Starlink.
Sounds like wishful thinking on your part, same as the wishful thinking that Tesla is going to conquer the world of EV's. Elon benefits from first mover advantage, but he tends to get distracted by the next "great thing" and drops the ball.
Sill waiting for "FSD" to exceed Level 2 standards, and there are many promises that Elon has made that haven't and won't likely happen.
"SpaceX has a group of Starlink satellites that its using to use for its own brand of internet connectivity. The company has hyped this product for years -- and there are on-the-ground installations in Ukraine -- but the overall roll-out has been slow."
What is this paragraph trying to say? That there is a subset of Starlink satellites providing some sort of different service? Because there are over 500,000 Starlink subscribers across the planet--hardly "hype"
There is no argument to be made that Musk has hit his promised targets for the roll-out when the reality is that he is behind by years on his targets. That is the literal definition of "overall roll-out has been slow."
I have no idea what his announced targets have been, but by describing the current subscriber base as simply consisting of stations in Ukraine and ignoring the reality of a half-million subscribers is just really odd. Honestly I think the author is completely unaware of Starlink's subscriber and satellite count and is working with 2021 numbers.
Oh ffs. The rollout has been slow.
Apple has a billion iPhone user base and growing, so half a million subscribers to Starlink to date looks like a rounding error to Apple.
Seems like an apples and oranges comparison. No pun intended.
Seems like you failed to mention that there are today, and will be tomorrow, competitors to Starlink, including Amazon, and hence, why Apple isn't moved by a mere half a million subscribers in a nascent market.
Those "competitors" may never make it off the ground. Amazon/Blue Origin has NEVER launched ANYTHING into orbit to date. And if they ever do, they will always be YEARS behind Starlink.
Some of the others are bigger players and have sats in orbit now, but they are still way behind Starlink, and will probably always be playing catch up... Again, probably a consistent couple of years behind Starlink.
Sounds like wishful thinking on your part, same as the wishful thinking that Tesla is going to conquer the world of EV's. Elon benefits from first mover advantage, but he tends to get distracted by the next "great thing" and drops the ball.
Sill waiting for "FSD" to exceed Level 2 standards, and there are many promises that Elon has made that haven't and won't likely happen.
LOL - I'm not wishful of anything. The article you linked is from May, 2022. Amazon/Blue Origin STILL HAS NOT LAUNCHED ANYTHING INTO ORBIT. They are at least 1-2 years behind now, and only getting further behind as time goes on.
"SpaceX has a group of Starlink satellites that its using to use for its own brand of internet connectivity. The company has hyped this product for years -- and there are on-the-ground installations in Ukraine -- but the overall roll-out has been slow."
What is this paragraph trying to say? That there is a subset of Starlink satellites providing some sort of different service? Because there are over 500,000 Starlink subscribers across the planet--hardly "hype"
There is no argument to be made that Musk has hit his promised targets for the roll-out when the reality is that he is behind by years on his targets. That is the literal definition of "overall roll-out has been slow."
I have no idea what his announced targets have been, but by describing the current subscriber base as simply consisting of stations in Ukraine and ignoring the reality of a half-million subscribers is just really odd. Honestly I think the author is completely unaware of Starlink's subscriber and satellite count and is working with 2021 numbers.
Oh ffs. The rollout has been slow.
Apple has a billion iPhone user base and growing, so half a million subscribers to Starlink to date looks like a rounding error to Apple.
Seems like an apples and oranges comparison. No pun intended.
Seems like you failed to mention that there are today, and will be tomorrow, competitors to Starlink, including Amazon, and hence, why Apple isn't moved by a mere half a million subscribers in a nascent market.
Apple should not make any deals with Musk. He keeps raising prices on Tesla cars and Autopilot. His promised words can change suddenly. Apple does business by honor and does not like to go to court.
Comments
But yeah, it'll be just a few days post iPhone 14 release until someone starts complaining that they can't get their Tiktok video or selfies uploaded when they are completely outside the range of any cellular coverage.
What Apple is providing is a simpler, text only service that will be available to all iPhone 14 users, at no charge for two years, initially limited to Canada and the U.S.
Given the market size for Apple in North America, that's something on the order of 50 Million users gaining the service over the next year. The question becomes, where does Apple go from there, and Starlink isn't necessarily the answer, albeit SpaceX may still be a part of the solution, as a launch platform.
Some of the others are bigger players and have sats in orbit now, but they are still way behind Starlink, and will probably always be playing catch up... Again, probably a consistent couple of years behind Starlink.
Sill waiting for "FSD" to exceed Level 2 standards, and there are many promises that Elon has made that haven't and won't likely happen.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/01/amazon-takes-on-spacex-in-the-satellite-internet-with-project-kuiper.html
I don't care who "wins". Competition is good.
lol amazon. let blue origin get to orbit first...