AN EDITORIAL COMMENT FROM JACK MORGAN:
After 51 years of observing human behavior (including my own), I have learned that most people want to be associated with winners and success, or to bask in the light cast by those who are successful. Witness autograph seekers, or those who heap praise on political, artistic or athletic figures whose personal lives are a disgrace, but whose "success" is a matter of public (media) record. There is something similar happening here, on the Silicon Investor satellite communications board, and while it differs in some ways from the kind of behavior I've alluded to above, it does not differ from it in a truly material sense.
It is known to all that I am an Iridium subscriber. I believe that gives me an insight into the company that most who post on these boards do not have - experience with the product, and with the company. I acknowledge that flaws exist in the execution of the business plan, but I cannot admit to flaws in the product. The Iridium phone works exceedingly well, and the quality problems reported in various articles posted on this board (including those posted today) are out-of-date.
There is an obvious mentality extant on this board, and on the Loral board, and it's an "Iridium is lousy, Globalstar is perfect" mentality. Perhaps I should tell you that I have been a Globalstar investor as well as an Iridium investor; this may assuage doubts you have about my ability to be objective. The point I am most determined to make here is that "one wins, the other loses" is a specious argument. If Iridium loses, Globalstar loses; do not make the mistake of thinking that is not true.
It has been my pleasure to provide personal commentary on the Iridium system, based on my own experiences. But I have become distressed by the subjectivity of information posted on these boards, including my own (!). Readware, for whatever reason, disappeared from the scene after Globalstar's Zenit disaster. Perhaps he tired of "preaching to the choir". Who can say? But I think he was on to something, which I find appealing.
I wish for success for the entire mobile satellite communications industry: Globalstar, Iridium, ICO, etc. To have any other attitude is to commit intellectual suicide. This is not a game.
Jack Morgan bids you all farewell...and good luck! |
