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To: waverider who wrote (85375)	11/1/2000 10:20:16 AM
From: Keith Feral	Respond to of 152472

I agree that the concept of G* phones is the ultimate marketing case study. Surely there must need for 24/7 coverage for cell service without the threat of dropped calls. Spent a lot of time in FL last week and discovered that every major cell phone service in Naples, Orlando, and the Keys wasn't worth a damn. Every FL resident must be a potential customer for G* service. However, I don't think the affluent AARP group or the blue collar locals are going to fork over the big bucks for G* service rates. The faster that G* drops it rates to accomodate casual users, the more likely G*'s chance of success. There is no rule that says you can't raise rates later once you start approaching capacity. In 2 years, they could start auctioning MOU to increase the ARPU.

To: waverider who wrote (85375)	11/1/2000 10:30:05 AM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

re: "As people become more and more attached to their cell phones, the large areas in which cell service is NOT available will become more and more intolerable. That is where the sats will come in" There are large areas not yet served by cell-phones. And these are areas where people (or, to be more precise, people with money) spend very little time. Those areas may look big on the map, but no one goes there. Ask yourself: in the last 12 months, what fraction of your time did you spend outside cell-phone coverage? I'll bet it was less than 1%. Might have been 0%. If you were on a boat at sea, or an airplane, there are already alternatives to sat-phones. My point is that the only markets left for sat-phones are tiny niche markets; the mass market has already gone with cellphones. With universal roaming, and cell towers going up in ever-more-remote areas, the mass market will stay with cell-phones. How is data going to save Globalstar? First, their cash is going to run out before data generates revenue. Second, cellphones are going to be continuously upgraded. When the market wants mobile data access, they'll get it, via cellphones.