OK, if we agree that the "G* phones don't work indoors argument" is specious, let's turn to the "G* won't get revenue when phones are operated in cell-mode" argument.
The statement's true, IMO, and the question becomes: so what?
Clearly no one will buy a G* phone that doesn't anticipate spending some time outside the reach of terrestrial cellular. Will the average user consume the 140 or so minutes per month the company apparently projects? It doesn't seem unreasonable to me, especially taking into account some of the user terminals will be fixed, multi user "pay phone" installations, and many of the mobile users will be employees of large institutions, relatively insensitive to per minute costs.
There's another niche opportunity I hope G* and the SPs don't forget, especially in N. America: that's the recreational vehicle/sport utility vehicle industry. A G* phone, with built in conventional cell capability, and position locating service as well as satellite service seems like a great accessory to me. You could bundle the phone (maybe along with CDRD service, coming soon!) with the vehicle and sell service for maybe 50$/month. For that price, the user could make cell calls at conventional terrestrial rates, always know his location (no extra charge) and have access, in emergencies, to the satellite service (at some premium rate: say 5$/minute for the first 10 minutes (included in the monthly premium) declining (but not too quickly) thereafter. |
