[chrispeel]

I think it's possible that Apple will buy Globalstar or somehow offer emergency messaging via satellite. It's even possible that Apple will offer some sort of satellite voice service, again possibly for emergency use only.

I'm much more skeptical about the idea of Apple trying to compete with normal cell carriers. The trend in wireless is to go to small cells so that a carrier can offer high bandwidth service (like 5G) to customers. A satellite would have an effective cell radius of several hundred km, and would not be able to offer broadband service to everyone in a densely-populated area.

[Melatonic]

Thats possible but the issue with Global Star is that it isnt all that global. It is mainly useful in North America. The constellation could be expanded though.

Iridium is much better in that regard (or Inmarsat) and given how small some of these devices have become (checkout the inReach Mini) it would be pretty damn awesome to have that integrated into a phone.

[GeekyBear]

I sincerely doubt that we're talking about anything more bandwidth intensive than text messaging, but the recent news out of Globalstar tells us they have a new partner who they refuse to disclose who is fronting them a lot of money for expansion.

>Globalstar has signed a term sheet with a “large, global customer” to start deploying some of its spectrum for terrestrial use “in the U.S. and beyond,” the satellite operator said May 5.

The operator said Feb. 24 it picked MDA and Rocket Lab to supply a set of 17 satellites to replenish its constellation after a “potential customer” agreed to fund most of the $327 million project. The agreement includes an option for up to nine additional satellites at $11.4 million each.

https://spacenews.com/globalstar-agrees-terms-with-global-cu...

Requiring secrecy while fronting a large amount of money is certainly in line with Apple's known MO.