Mr Adrenaline, don't worry, I have measured our little Replogle 12 inch globe many times and stuck "footprints" all over it and made sure that there weren't too many gaps etc. I like to have a quite clear picture in my mind of just what the system will look like in 3D.
There really are very few gaps which can't be filled. The question is one of economics. Larry, sorry, I know you didn't mention those islands, I was just using them to point out just how many populated islands there are all over the place. Now, if you stick your eye where Mr Adrenaline said, go on everyone, get your globes out and put your eye 1400 km from the surface. You get quite good coverage. Perhaps this discussion does seem a bit detailed, but this will be an advertising point Iridium use against Globalstar and investors should be aware of just how much of the globe can be covered. Since the gateways are franchised, it is up to those companies to decide how many gateways to put in and whether to upgrade them or not. They will decide that based on sales expectations. For example, Hyundai have the New Zealand franchise and we might get left with old services if they decide our custom is not worth giving the best service. They might leave gaps in the network too, out in the ocean as they might not think it worth putting in a gateway to cover 2 Kiwi sailors down in the roaring forties. No doubt there will be some persuasion to provide a fairly complete service.
Back to the North Atlantic. Azores, Bermuda, Halifax, Reykjavik, Barbados, Gambia takes care of the whole lot. With GPS built in, it will be a popular service for yachties. There really are very few gaps that can't be filled and as Mr Adrenaline says; so what!
As far as changing M-Star [or designing it in the first place] to include voice, they have got a lot of time to do that. Motorola hasn't even got a CDMA terrestrial phone going yet. M-Star's launch won't be for years. As you say, it is guesswork on both our parts, but I prefer to expect competition. So should Iridium.
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