`Appleet al. v. Uniloc
`IPR2019-00510
`
` 1
`
`1
`
`Exhibit 1019
`Apple et al. v. Uniloc
`IPR2019-00510
`
`
`
`otgy
`
`PERIODICALS
`KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
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`andlookaroundus, at cultures where the way people work and trade
`learned the importanceofstrikinga balance between ends and means,
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`Orhas the stock exchangefloor degeneratedintoa battlefield
`with eachotheris still close to the heart. Quite a few so-called
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`whichtheyare intended.
`primitivecultures, for example,are not nearly as primitive as we might
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`Teaneck. N.J. ©1992
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`THEBome SAPPHIRE Maatini.As INTERPRETED BYADamTIHANY,
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`Withthis issue, Wired goes monthly, a step we had notplanned
`to take un’
`nextyear. But the overwhelming responseto Wired
`tions than
`- sellouts at newsstands,fifteen times more subscri
`
`expected, floodsof e-mail - forced our hand.
`Your support meansa lotto us. Wired is not a big media
`conglomerate. Weare a start-up, founded andstaffed by impas-
`sioned, dedicatedindividuals. Our missionis to cover the biggest
`story of the decade - the convergence of computing, telecommu-
`nications, and the media - for the most powerfulpeople on the
`planettoday, the people makingthis Digital Revolution.
`
`In the process, we are alsotrying to reinvent the
`magazine.Tous, that means:
`1, Taking advantageof whatprint is really good at.
`Wiredisn’t aboutdelivering raw data, but high thoughtcontent
`and the sensuouslook andfeel that only comes from stimulat-
`ing design, exacting prepress, and a US$8 million Heidelberg
` inks on non-glossy,recy-
`Harris six-color press putting speci
`cled papers.
`2. Going beyondpaper by making ourhard-copyedition
`a gatewayto ourinteractive services. Whetherit’s our Music
`Accessline, which allows you to samplecutsof the records we
`review,or our online presence (America Online, The Well, Mind-
`Vox, OneNet- for addresses, see page 108) where you cantalk to
`oureditors, reference back issues, or join conferences and chat
`rooms,ourgoalis to create a new kind of publication thatis not
`complete unless you are plugged into both the hard copy and
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`online experience.
`
`3. Pro’
`g a level of service unheard of for magazines.
`Most magazines’ ideaofservice is an eight-week wait for an
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`that’s just unacceptable. When youcall Wired’s 800 number
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`Thanksagainfor your support.In gratitude to our early
`subscribers, we are extending yoursix-issue subscriptions an
`extra issue. As I wrotein ourfirst issue,if you're looking for
`the soulof our new societyin wild metamorphosis, our adviceis
`still simple (only nowit’s monthly):
`Get Wired.
`Louis Rossetto
`(Ir@wired.com)
`
`Street Cred
`
`Nowhere To Hide By Charles Platt
`Is Copyright Dead On the Net? By Lance Rose
`DPrtavg eRetag
`Vereete Ca
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`DEOOBO
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`beenshockinguswithhis descriptionsof the future. A conversation with Peter Schwartz.
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`Total Immersion
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` butin boardrooms,at international
`
`conferences,atlavish parties,in fax
`flurries andin global conference
`calls.
`In six years, Motorola alone
`has spent $100 million onthis idea,
`andin Augustit awarded Lockheed
`another$700 million to build the
`birds. Butsofarall thisis still just an
`idea: a cellular system with very tall
`towerscalledsatellites.
`Ononelevel, thisisjust another
`danceofthe behemoths. One or more
`ofthe systemswill be built, and in a
`few years you cansignup,if youlike.
`Yetit’s a dancethattells us a lot
`about whoweare, what we expect,
`and how wedealwith changeatthe
`end of the millennium.
`The Product: What's the Plan?
`Follow the bouncingball. The Big-
`footof this danceis Motorola. This
`is the companywith the gold-plat-
`ed system, the one youhave most
`likely heard about, the one with the
`greatest numberofsatellites, the
`system with the highestprice tag,
`
`North Slope and Mama's at McMurdo,
`Soundin the Antarctic,dial away.
`The Iridiumsatelliteswill not only
`talk to handsets and groundstations,
`they will also talk to each other,
`forming a network aloft, passing on
`conversations, and handing them off
`whenthey drift out of range.
`Becauseofthesesatellite-to-
`satellite crosslinks, the Iridium sys-
`tem will be able to handlecalls to
`otherIridium phoneswithoutrefer-
`enceto any groundstationsatall,
`oncethelink is established. Say
`you're stuckintraffic in your Jag
`convertible on Sunsetin Santa Mon-
`ica. Goodtimeto call the manager
`of that hot new act you've just
`signed. You havenoidea wherethis
`personis, but you do knowhisIrid-
`ium phone number. You turn on
`your phoneanddial. The signal
`goesfrom yourhandsetstraightto
`an Iridium satellite, which sends a
`query through the networkofsatel-
`lites to one thatis overIridium sys-
`tem headquarters. There, a comput-
`
`omers.Iridium evenrecruited the
`astronomers(not a group notorious
`Theothersystemsarevariations
`forits political clout) and the Russian
`ambassadorof Mali, plushis wife
`of this theme. They have fewer
`GLOSNASSglobal navigation system
`andstaff, to act in a promotional
`satellites, in less-tilted orbits,or in
`video. The danceis political and
`—a system the FAAplansto incorpo-
`higherorbits (which gives each
`rate into Americancivil aviation. This
`corporate, butits realities can only
`satellite a bigger footprint). One
`led to lots of head-scratching, work-
`be descried deepin the differing
`company, Ellipsat, planstouseellip-
`arounds,technicalfootnotes, and
`technical choices made by Motorola
`tical orbits, which skews coverage
`powerlimitations, which did more
`andits competitors. Each technical
`to the more-populatedareas. (Ellip-
`choiceaffects the business end; the
`damageto Iridium - the high-pow-
`sat CEO DavidCastiel says, “Frankly,
`business decisions pushthepolitics;
`ered system - thantoits rivals. In the
`mybusiness plan can do without
`end, WARC ‘92 did recommendthat
`thepolitics mold the technology,
`the people onEasterIsland.”) TRW's
`the spectrum be madeavailable.
`aroundandaroundit goes.
`Odyssey system featureshigh-flying
`But Motorola’s real problem at
`MEObirdsthat useinertial guid-
`WARCwasdesign.The system it
`Everybody Dance
`ancesystemsto point themselves,
`proposedhad nothingto do with
`To makea systemlikethis work
`focusing their beamsat their select-
`landline systems. Technically cool
`(satellites in the sky, ground sta-
`ed continents. NobodybutIridium
`for users - oneprice, globalcover-
`tions on the ground,listeners with
`plansto crosslinkits satellites -
`age,justflip on the phoneandtalk.
`phonesto ear), you needseveral
`everybodyelse's birdsare simple
`Notcool for governments.
`things. Mostimportantis a piece of
`bent-pipe repeaters, sending the
`Almost everywhereexceptin
`the broadcastspectrum (and things
`handset’s signalback down toa
`the US, phoneserviceis run by the
`get rapidly more complicatedif it’s
`groundstation that feedsinto land
`lines.All their handsets are dual-
`notthe samepiecein every coun-
`government(usually as part of the
`postalservice).
`In many small coun-
`try). Second, you needa license and
`mode- they are cellular phones
`tries, it is one of the government's
`an agreementwith the phone com-
`first, satellite phonesonlyif they
`can't makea cellularlink. All code
`major sources of revenue, and
`pany in every country in which you
`internationalcalls turn the highest
`wantto operate. Third, you need
`their messagesdifferently than
`profit. Motorola suddenly proposed
`investors — butif you buildit, they
`does Motorola, andall promise to
`will come.
`If you have the spectrum
`a system that would movethe
`do it for dramatically less money.
`profit away from these countries
`andthelicensingall takencareof,
`The Dance:
`andinto its own pockets.
`youwill havelittle problem getting
`Neattrick, but Motorolais the
`the investors. Fourth (anda distant
`What's Really Going On?
`fourth),is the technologyitself.
`world’s largest manufacturer of
`What's really going on is something
`between a minuet and a World
`Thefirst two hurdles are very
`cellular equipment. Those who
`operate PTTs (posttelephonetele-
`high. The spectrum that's available
`Wrestling Federation Monster Mash.
`is small and notfree for usein every
`graph systems)areits major cus-
`It has something in common with
`tomers.
`In manyparts of the world,
`country. Redesigning the equip-
`the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, a
`mentsothatit won'tinterfere with
`theyareits partners. Motorola
`soliton - a vast storm ofsurprising
`can't ignore them.
`the services alreadyusingthat
`stability that bubblesupoutof the
`ercertifies that you have punched
`the biggest PR team, and the most
`So Motorola'sIridium phone has
`spectrum may makeit overly
`chaos, swallowseverything inits
`in the right PIN number, and that
`peculiardesign,castigatedbya rival
`become,like thoseofall the other
`expensive.Besides,it’s nearly
`path, and thensticks around,year
`youhavepaid yourbill. Then it
`company CEOas“very inefficient
`searchesthe databasetofind the
`impossible to get every country in
`systems, dual mode: Whenyouturn
`after year, swirling, enormous, and
`andexpensive,” characterized by
`it on,it’s just a cellular phone. Only
`the world,evenjust the important
`nearly permanent.It beganin late
`mostlikely parts of the world tofind
`anotheraspartof“a strategy that
`if no cellular netis available,orif you
`ones, to agree on anything. Both
`1990, jump-started whentiny Ellipsat
`the person you are calling, and
`fundamentally seeks a monopoly.”
`pushthe phone'ssatellite button,
`It’s calledIridium,after element
`EuropeandJapanare busy develop-
`applied for an FCClicense,followed
`sends the query backaloft, through
`doesit hookinto the satellite sys-
`the networkofsatellites, until one
`ing their owncellular systems and
`rapidly by Motorola and the other
`77 ontheperiodic table, becauseits
`have hopesfortheir ownsatellite
`tem. Mostlong-distance phonecalls
`competitors. They will stay locked in
`satellite gets a response from the
`original designcalledfor 77 satel-
`from anIridium phone would,in
`this vicious courtly scherzo until
`systems. Why should they sign on?
`lites. (Iridium also happensto be
`ground. Yourcall is connected, and
`much more commonin meteorites
`Andif they don't sign on, the pro-
`fact, never go througha satellite. So
`one or moreof the systems goes up
`someoneyells in the otherend,
`Motorola hadits handsfull with a
`thanin earth-boundstone.)
`jects are probably dead.
`andothers have givenup-unlikely,
`“Who'scalling meatfivein thefrig-
`Motorola got caughtin a wringer
`majorshift in strategy,first assuring
`accordingto those whowatchit
`gin’ morning?”
`Now the designcalls for66 satel-
`PTTsaroundthe world thatit never
`mostclosely, before the turn of the
`rightupfront at the WARC(World
`“Baby! It’s Duane. Your new agent.
`lites, but no one at Motorola has
`meanttosteal their revenues.
`Administrative Radio Conference) ‘92
`millennium. The dancersincludeall
`Wherein the worldis it 5 am?”
`called for changing the nameto
`Wouldn't dreamofit. Then saying,
`in Malaga-Torremolinos, Spain.
`of the companiesinvolved, plus the
`“Oh, Duane. Tokyo. Remember?
`that of element66. Dysprosium
`The tour?”
`It had usedits considerable corpo-
`“Wannabe a partner? Wanna come
`departmentsofstate and com-
`doesn't have the samering,andits
`“Oh”
`merce, the FCC, various world bod-
`aboard?This could be very big.”
`rate weightto convince the US gov-
`root meaningis “bad approach.”
`All of this is handset-to-satellite-
`ernmentto askfor a pieceofthe
`ies, a hundredor so national phone
`Iridium’s 66satellites will fly in
`to-satellite-to-handset. Orit could
`SayThis Three Times Slowly:
`spectrum aroundthe worldforIrid-
`companiesaroundthe globe, com-
`eleven nearly polar orbits (tilted 86
`TDMAVersus COMA
`ium andits competitors, even though
`mercialairlines, technology giants
`be, in theory. In reality, it mostoften
`degrees) 420 milesout. Because of
`So howwill thedifferent systems
`won't be,for reasonsthatare, as we
`in Europe andJapan,rocket makers
`agoodchunkofthat spectrum was
`theseorbits, Iridium will blanket the
`in Russia, and even radio astron-
`divide the spectrum that WARC '92
`already given over to radio
`will see, extremely terrestrial
`globe.
`If you're on anoil rig off the
`WIRED NOVEMBER 1993
`
`WIRED NOVEMBER 1993
`
`In “negotiated rule-making”sessions this
`
`spring, everyone agreedto sharethe available
`
`spectrum — except Motorola.
`
`the Space King
`
`ue
`
`
`
`BRADMILLIKEN
`
`
`
`7
`
`
`
` madeavailable? Imagineeight peo-
`
`ple at a dinnertabletrying to have
`four conversationsat once, with
`nobodyseated nextto the person he
`orsheis talking to, Cacophony. You
`could give each person one minute
`to talk while everyone else shuts up a
`minutefor onebikertotell the other
`abouthis new super-stroke, a minute
`for onefatherto brag to another
`abouthis 5-year-old. Callthis time
`division.
`Or you could assign each conver-
`sation a language:the bikerstalkin
`Farsi, the fathers in Nahuatl. As long
`as they knowtherightlanguages,
`andas long as no oneshouts, every-
`one can havetheir conversationsat
`the sametimewith nointerference.
`Call this codedivision.
`In January 1989,the UScellular
`industry accepted TDMA(timediv-
`ision multiple access) as the digital
`standard that would replace the cur-
`rent analog AMPS(advanced mobile
`phonesystem) standard. TDMA
`allowsa cellular operatorto divide
`upthesignalintotiny fractions of a
`second, so three times as many peo-
`ple can use the system atonetime.
`Three monthslater, San Diego's
`QualcommInc.introduced CDMA
`(codedivision multiple access),
`a newflavorofan idea that has
`beenusedin military satellites for
`decades.After three yearsof test-
`ing, the industry acceptedit as a
`second standard, one that would
`increase the capacityof the sys-
`tem 10 to 20 times.
`Thebig difference between the
`twois this: CDMAallows4.4 trillion
`different codes,so differentcallers,
`evenondifferent systems, can use
`the same spectrum atthe same
`time. The time division in TDMA has
`to be donein one computer - two
`different systemscan’t use the
`samespectrum at the sametime.
`CDMAisinto sharing. TDMAis
`not. Systems that use CDMAcanall
`co-exist in the same spectrum. For
`different systems to use TDMA,
`someonehasto divvie upthe avail-
`able spectrum aheadoftime.
`Allthe globalsatellite systems are
`interestedin sharing theavailable
`spectrum,and havedecided to use
`CDMA- exceptMotorola(the Big-
`foot), which has stuck to TDMA,and
`WIRED NOVEMBER 1993
`
`demandedexclusive rights to a seg-
`mentofthespectrum(in addition to
`200 MHzof spectrumforits satellites
`to talk to each other). Motorola's
`attitude has been characterized by
`Philip Malet, oneofits lawyers, as,
`“Giveus the spectrum andthenlet
`the othersfight over what'sleft.”
`As long as there was only one
`system using TDMA,it could do all
`right in the same spectrum with
`other CDMAsystems- ifit kept its
`voice down.ButIridium is a shouter
`- TDMA,in Motorola's design, needs
`more powerthan CDMAtoblast
`throughto theinside of a cab ora
`building, Theother systems can'tsit
`nextto a shouter.
`The FCC's response wasto order
`everyoneto sit down and workit
`out. That didn’t work.
`In “negotiated
`rule-making”sessionsthis spring,
`everyoneagreedtosharetheavail-
`able spectrum - except Motorola.
`Sothisfall the FCC is expected to
`issueits proposedrules, beginning
`a process that maytake upto a year.
`Congress has comeupwith one
`solution almost everyone hates: a bill
`authorizing the FCC to auctionoff
`pieces of the spectrum.According to
`Leslie Taylor, a consultant to Global-
`star, “Auctions wouldreally compli-
`cate things, slow things down, and
`add cost - they create a tremendous
`pressurefor the companiesto come
`to somekind of agreement.”
`“Anauction,”says Ed Nowacki,
`vice presidentof federal systemsfor
`TRW,“would result in a monopoly.
`Thisis a public resource, and should
`be opento multiple access.”
`Thelikely outcome?They'll doit
`Motorola's way, giving 8 MHz (half
`ofthe available spectrum) overto
`Iridium.“Iridium cannotoperate
`withoutthat,” according to Mary
`AnnElliott, president of Arrowhead
`Space and Telecommunications.
`“Motorola won't get tossed out by
`the FCC,” says anotherconsultant,
`“because they havepaidoff so
`manypeople. They have mowed
`downthe opposition.”
`But the 8 MHzthat would beleft
`forall the CDMAparticipants “is not
`enough,” according to Nowacki
`“The amountoftraffic you could fit
`inthatspectrum wouldn't makethe
`project economically viable” for the
`
` Inmarsat has commissioned studies
`
`if
`$1.6
`ney
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`(none
`
`TeToney
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`cu
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`service before any US companyhas
`obtaineda clearlicense.”
`Othersare crowding onto the
`dancefloor, elbowsout, looking for
`room. A sixth company,San Diego-
`based Celsat, plans to enterthe race
`with two geostationarysatellites.
`Calling Communications Corpora-
`tion of West Covina,California has
`announceda $6.5 billion plan that
`calls for 840 lightweightLEOsatel-
`lites and 84 orbiting spares. A num-
`berof other countries, including
`Russia, Singapore, Mexico, Tonga,
`SaudiArabia, and Indonesia, have
`announcedplansfor systemsthat
`will competefor the spectrum given
`out at WARC '92. The American
`MobileSatellite Corporation already
`hasa license (the exclusivelicense,
`it claims)for “in-fill” mobilesatellite
`service in North America,(for cus-
`tomersin areas not covered by
`regular cellularservice) using geo-
`stationarysatellites - and expects to
`be operating bylate next year.
`
`by a numberof major companies
`forit. Iridium CEO BobKinzie earlier
`dismissed Project 21 as just words.
`But now Motorolais lobbying the
`US governmentto stop Inmarsat
`from competingwith Iridium (the
`US, through Comsat, is a member
`of Inmarsat). Inmarsat’s own Di-
`rectorof Strategic Planning,Patrick
`McDougal, admits thatthey'll be
`“fighting for the same customers.”
`With 66 governmentsonitsside,
`geostationarysatellites already in
`place, and a rapidly growing cash
`flow fromits existing operations,
`Inmarsatcouldendupwith a global
`monopolyonsatellite phones(in
`combination with AMSC). As Moto-
`rola has been cobbling together a
`truly global consortium behindIrid-
`ium, the push-pull for many poten-
`tial investors has been whetherto
`sign up with Bigfootorsit on their
`hands, waiting to see whatInmarsat
`will do.“If this sounds vague and
`
`us
`
`other companies. David Wye, of
`Congress's Office of Technology
`Assessment,says thatsuch a solu-
`tion “might, from an engineering
`standpoint, be completelyuseless.”
`Once the FCC handsoutlicenses,
`everybodyhasto reconvenebefore
`the InternationalFrequencyRate
`Board,fighting off all comers to
`secure thosefrequencies on a glob-
`al basis.
`If the US competitors don't
`work somethingout, says Arrow-
`head's Elliott, somebodyelse “will
`likely bein place andoffering
`
`The power mysteryplayeris
`Inmarsat,an international organiza
`tion with 66 membercountries that
`already runsa voice anddata satel-
`lite communications system for
`shipsat sea. The terminals now cost
`$45,000 each andareasbigasfile
`cabinets- even the newest,brief-
`case-size modelcosts $25,000,plus
`$5.50 per minuteofuse.Inmarsat
`wantsto getinto the handheld
`business, but hasn't yet decided just
`howit wants to go aboutit. The
`idea has a name- Project 21 - and
`
`
`
`confusing,it’s becauseitis,” says
`David Wyeat the Office ofTechnolo-
`gyAssessment. “Noneofthese sys-
`temsis operational. You can only do
`so manystudies. Everythingis up
`in the air.”
`Finally, there is one major tripwire
`that has everyone coughingpolitely
`andlookingthe other way: Section
`310B of the CommunicationsActof
`1934 categorically forbids the FCC
`from givinga license to any compa-
`ny with more than 20-percentfor-
`eign ownership. That would seem to
`tule outIridium, for whom Motorola
`has been assembling a global con-
`catenation of owners; Globalstar,
`withits Europeanpartners; indeed,
`almosteverybody. But | won't men-
`tionthis if you won't. We wouldn't
`wantto spoil anything, would we?
`Wild Rumors
`Because ofits high pricetag,its
`‘obsessionwith covering every inch
`ofthe globe equally, and its exclu-
`sivity, some peoplefigure that Moto-
`rola originally designed Iridium for
`the US military andintelligence
`services(a “three-letter” system —
`DOD,DIA,CIA, NSC),just in time to
`see the Berlin Wall fall. Motorola
`admits that someIridium tech-
`nologycame from military systems,
`butdeniesthat the system was
`designed for the military.
`Thefirst meetingof potential
`Iridium investors in March 1991 had
`a covercharge,an entrance fee
`to assurethat no onewaswasting
`Motorola's time and resourcesin
`idle curiosity. The cover charge was
`“approximately $1 million,” accord-
`ing to industry sources quotedin
`MobileSatellite News.Iridium
`spokesmanJohn Windolphsays,
`“That'sridiculous.”
`Get Serious. Who'd Pay For
`GlobalPhoneService?
`Is there really a market for this?
`Motorola figures Iridium needs a
`million customers to break even
`Evenshoestring Ellipsatis looking
`for half a million. What happens as
`cellular expandsits geographic
`coverage,asit goes digital (and
`data-friendly)? Does the market for
`satellite phones disappear? How
`many globe-hopping CEOs and
`
`ee eeuoy
`Protec
`PURAcere
`called satellites.
`
` phoneservicesonly cover a small
`
`hot-shot Hollywood agentsare
`therein the world?
`"Vd sign upfor it in a second,”
`says Richard Buckberg. “I've been
`looking for somethinglikethis for
`years.” Buckberg, a consulting biol-
`ogist, often spends days or weeks
`on remote mountainsides, counting
`marbled murrelets or spotted owls.
`Heoften hasto check withhis
`office, or consult clients. Once he
`gets outsideofa cellular system, he
`falls back on the RCC,a suitcase-
`sized affair underthefrontseat of
`his truck.
`It consumes some40
`wattsof power,it can't be removed
`fromthetruck,it can’t send data,
`andit is complexto operate. He has
`to knowthe channelof each
`“repeater”station on the route —
`and no one cancall him whenhe's
`in the boonies. “A global phone that
`could receivecalls and send data?
`That would be a godsend,”hesays.
`Buckbergis far from alone. In
`fact, manypeople have jobsthat
`
`take them to remoteareas without
`good phoneservice, and manyof *
`these people needto beable to
`send data: construction engineers
`sendingplan revisions, oil-company
`geologists uploadingtestresults,
`surveyors asking for previous maps,
`adventuretouroperatorsposting
`itinerary changes. Others, such as
`salespeople,field producers for
`television networks, and reporters,
`mayusually be within reach of a
`regular phone, but they can be
`hardfor the homeoffice to track
`down(evenpagingrelies on the
`person you arecalling to find a
`phoneandcall back). These groups
`constitute a second marketfor
`global phoneservice.
`A third marketis thein-fill crowd:
`people whocanaffordto payfor
`theservice butlive in remote,thinly-
`populatedareasthatwill likely never
`be covered by regularcellularservice.
`Finally, in manythird-world
`countries, both regularandcellular
`
`fractionofthe landarea.If the
`governments of countries such as
`Botswana, Mongolia, and Peru
`want to know what's going onin
`remotevillages, they can set up
`landline phonesystems, with mic-
`rowaveandfiberlinks. Or they can
`try to teachthevillage leadersto
`operate a short-waveradio. Butit
`wouldbe far easier and cheaperto
`simplygive each village leadera
`satellite phone — instantinfrastruc-
`ture. Globalstar has promised com-
`plete pole-mountedsolar-powered
`terminals for $2,000 each that
`wouldgive a localvillage phone
`system direct access to the public
`switched networkin the faraway
`capital, with no needtostring wire
`acrossthevastjungle,desert,
`mountain, or swampin between.
`Addto that the many urban
`parts of the world (including many
`formerly communist countries)
`where [continued on page 118]
`WIRED NOVEMBER 1993
`
`
`
`8
`
`
`
`“We don't really makealotof noise
`best bets are Globalstar and
`
`aboutourinvestmentsuccesses,
`Iridium
`Odyssey,or a conflationof several
`becausewedon't really seethatit’s
`of the CDMAplans.
`[continued from page 77] bureau-
`quite necessaryyet.”
`But noteveryoneis so sanguine.
`cracy and antiquated systems can
`AnotherCEObrags,“We have
`Onereport from theOffice of
`meanyearsof waiting for a phone
`taken away majorinvestors from
`Technology Assessmentsays that
`line to beinstalled — a wait that is
`Iridium,” but he won't name them.
`spectrum problemsalone “may
`unacceptableto fast-movinginter-
`Buton August2 ofthis year,
`make operating a truly global sys-
`national businesses.
`Motorola cameupgrinning, with an
`tem technically unrealistic.” And
`announcementof $800 million in
`Counting all of these groups,
`even enthusiastElliott, of Arrow-
`there is probably a very large mar-
`binding commitments and cash
`head,points out that AMSC's sys-
`ket forsatellite phones,especially if
`from aninitial groupof investors
`tem, due tostart service next year,
`the phones(andtheonline time)
`aroundthe world. The group
`has takenthirteen years to geta full
`canbe keptaffordable. Most systems
`includes such Americanplayers as
`license, and concedesthat “it is very
`aim to matchthecostofcellular, 30
`Lockheed,Sprint and Raytheon;a
`unlikely that wewill have any sys-
`to 50 cents per minute, plus any land-
`Saudigroup; Krunichev Enterprise,
`tem operationalbefore the year
`the Russian rocket-maker; the Ital-
`line long-distance charges. Motorola
`2000 - and anysystem will be hard
`aimsto charge $3 per minute to
`ian national phone company;a
`pressedto keepup with Inmarsat.”
`start with (including all charges).
`consortiumof big Japaneseplayers,
`This is a complex gameon every
`Andthere's the rub:the Iridium
`including Sony, Mitsubishi, Mitsui,
`level — onethatinvolves the techni-
`design costs more. If you wantyour
`Kyocera and long-distancecarrier
`cal difficulties of buildinga system,
`satellitesto talk to each other, they
`DDI; and China's Great WallIndustry
`theintricate many-sided revenue-
`Corporation, the commercialarm of
`haveto have on-board computers
`sharing contracts amongscores of
`to handle the complexities of net-
`the Red Army.
`PTTs aroundthe world,the legisla-
`working. The computerhas to have
`The motiveof the investorsis
`tive and bureaucratic minefields of
`scoresof countries; onethat also
`a backup, andsodoesits memory.
`clear: They are taking a chance on
`They both consumepower. And
`owninga sliceof a de-facto world
`requires some diplomatic andpoliti-
`satellites that talk to each othernot
`monopoly.Each of them will not
`cal back-scratching.For instance,
`only needanextra set of antennae,
`the technical demandsof the
`only have a piece of the company,
`theyalso haveto be much more
`they will own theIridium gateways
`Globalstarsystemcall for about 125
`precisely pointed and positioned
`andact as thelocal distributorin
`groundstations eventually. But
`thansatellites thatjust talk to the
`their respective home markets. For
`companyofficials estimate that they
`ground.Their positioning thrusters
`themit's a gameworthplaying.
`will need another75 groundsta-
`use morefuel.
`But in anylist, who's missingis as
`tionsto solve