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Shouldn't that be Elon Musk battling Tim Cook? Essentially Tim makes the call, at the end of the day.
 
And we all know how Apple trying to build their own car and their own AI has worked out. Not to mention that Apple’s spaceship hasn’t managed a single liftoff yet. ;)
Lesson: Stay in your own lane, right?
 
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those who want/need it - absolutely they will.
But if you have an iPhone 14 or newer, satellite features are included for free from Apple. T-Satellite is only for messaging at the moment as well, so there’s no reason to pay for it if you have a newer iPhone.
 
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But if you have an iPhone 14 or newer, satellite features are included for free from Apple. T-Satellite is only for messaging at the moment as well, so there’s no reason to pay for it if you have a newer iPhone.
IF you have a 14 or later, believe it or not, there are some who don't, I'm one of them. But I don't need satellite support
 
> Musk threatened that if Apple did not agree to a deal with SpaceX within 72 hours, he would announce a similar satellite feature on his own that could work with iPhones.

Isn't this just extortion? Or do they have different words when billionaires do it.
 
I believe Apple should expand its offerings beyond a single satellite service. This applies to AI as well, such as Grok as opposed to just ChatGPT.

Many individuals here appear to have an anti-Elon stance, which isn't unexpected given their dependence on "legacy media" to guide their opinions. ;)
 
I think spacex offers a better solution than globalstar, and certainly much better coverage, but also understand why Apple didn’t want to deal with them.
For me personally, it’s not a requirement.
Well, SpaceX’s direct to phone service isn’t here yet - still in work.

Also in work is AST Spacemobile, which looks like the best direct to phone satellite service of all:
 
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Elon Musk threatening 3T company😭
Apple can easily expand in the satellite internet business and it complements its phone and internet tech. It seems Apple already owns 20% of globalstar
 
He should do it! We need more competition in this space.

Huwaei already made Hormony OS but this kind of thing won't pick up simply because of apps. App creators will not build apps for 8 different platforms. I believe this is a main reason why Windows phone died, no one wanted to make apps for windows phone.
 
Ultimately Apple chose to give us a hobbled version of satellite features that only work in emergencies instead of full satellite connectivity.
Here we have another case of the Elon cult. Starlink does absolutely not have the capacity to offer “full satellite connectivity” to Apple’s billion user base. It is built in a way that’s great for rural and remote locations, but impossible to serve metropolitan areas in any meaningful capacity. Think 10 users per square mile, not 10,000. If Apple had partnered with SpaceX, they’d have had to put severe usage caps on it as well.
 
And what’s childish about trying to squash your competitors?

So you want Apple’s profits to slide, sales to decrease, all for the sake of being nice? And don’t tell us Apple’s sales and profits will actually increase by being nice. Not hardly.
You certainly are an inspiration, but when you are rich and act a dick, it just means the same as when you are poor, but now its other rich people avoiding you or at the very least, trying to figure out how to screw you in the next business deal as you deserve it. Elon has to his credit managed to cross the divide and now has people of all incomes and wealth, disliking him. It's not proven financially a very sensible approach to business as it turns out.
 
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What a tyrant! Somebody needs to take this guy down a peg or two (Billion).
Why would you take such an article full of - rather very unlikely - speculation at face value?

Chances are none of this happened this way.

It's a little odd Apple decided to partner with a very limited Sat company... Apple should really be in the middle of launching its own Apple-Starlink global Sat network, making cars, doing a lot of stuff that would be normal for a company of the size.

I am hoping they at least are working on humanoid robots. As they've snoozed through AI, coming up with more ways to make emoji no one cares about.

Could be Starlink's price tag was too high - but i would also think if Apple suddenly said we're running on Starlink it would probably offend all the telcos - which Apple needs to shift product. Especially in the USA.

So that would be a more logical reason to not go all in on Starlink.

If Elon launches a Tesla phone Apple will be in trouble. Why... because he is willing to innovate like Steve Jobs did, which is now lost at Apple; and because he can make devices in the USA, seemingly no problemo.

SpaceX built an entire supply chain for its heat shield factory in Texas, Tim Cook can't imagine building a supply chain for iPhone, keeps saying it's impossible in the USA. It's all a shame as Apple would be so much more powerful if they were producing phones in the US.

The old make everything in China to maximize margins worked extremely well for Apple, and is the reason it has been so profitable - but it is time to change it, Apple is the largest company in the world by market cap. It needs to lead now, not find cool hacks to lower costs.
 
I asked AI, maybe others can as well.

There’s no public evidence that Starlink was offered or considered by Apple as an option for satellite services before selecting Globalstar. Apple partnered with Globalstar in 2022 for its Emergency SOS via satellite feature, introduced with the iPhone 14 series. This partnership was specifically tailored to Apple’s needs, leveraging Globalstar’s low-earth orbit satellite network for emergency communications.
Starlink, operated by SpaceX, wasn’t publicly linked to Apple as a potential partner at that time. Instead, Starlink’s direct-to-cell service emerged later, with T-Mobile announcing a partnership with SpaceX in August 2022 to enable satellite texting, which was implemented in 2025 with iOS 18.3. Apple’s integration of Starlink came through T-Mobile’s carrier network, not as a direct Apple-Starlink deal. There’s no indication Apple evaluated Starlink before committing to Globalstar, as their satellite strategies and timelines differ significantly.
 
Elon Musk threatening 3T company😭
Apple can easily expand in the satellite internet business and it complements its phone and internet tech. It seems Apple already owns 20% of globalstar

Elon Musk threatening the 3T company? Pffft. That's laughable. His companies will exceed Apple 3T soon.

Honestly, I'm not sure who your "source" was... but Starlink has a higher market share percentage than Globalstar in the satellite communication market, particularly in satellite internet, where Starlink is a dominant player.

Starlink likely holds a significantly larger market share than Globalstar in the overall satellite communication market, driven by its dominance in the satellite internet segment. While Globalstar has a strong position in satellite IoT and MSS, its market scope is narrower, and its share is smaller compared to Starlink’s broader reach. Without precise percentages, Starlink’s scale (7,100+ satellites, millions of subscribers) suggests it commands a much larger portion of the market, potentially 20–40% of the total satellite communication market, compared to Globalstar’s estimated 5–10% in its segments.
 
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Here we have another case of the Elon cult. Starlink does absolutely not have the capacity to offer “full satellite connectivity” to Apple’s billion user base. It is built in a way that’s great for rural and remote locations, but impossible to serve metropolitan areas in any meaningful capacity. Think 10 users per square mile, not 10,000. If Apple had partnered with SpaceX, they’d have had to put severe usage caps on it as well.
Yeah, not to replace traditional cell service, just in situations where cell service didn't reach your phone... So not an issue of capability... Sorry thought that it was obvious thats what we were talking About... We got satellite text capability only...
 
Elon Musk threatening the 3T company? Pffft. That's laughable. His companies will exceed Apple 3T soon.

Honestly, I'm not sure who your "source" was... but Starlink has a higher market share percentage than Globalstar in the satellite communication market, particularly in satellite internet, where Starlink is a dominant player.

Apple market value is more than tesla+starlink combined.

I don't know why you speak of starlink market share as I didn't talk about that. I said Apple owns 20% of Globalstar.
 
So musk offered Apple an exclusivity deal which they declined and so he partnered with T-mobile like he said he would. How is it a tantrum? 😂 he launched the satellites for a reason he didn’t make a deal with t-mobile to spite Apple he was always planning to sell a service.

I don’t see anything bad about giving them a deadline it was for exclusivity and he had the best service Apple could get. Apple didn’t decline it because it wasn’t the best option. They declined it because they were afraid of making a deal with SpaceX that would piss off the cellular carriers.

Ultimately Apple chose to give us a hobbled version of satellite features that works in emergencies instead of full satellite connectivity (in emergencies).
The replies in this thread is a case of having the cake and eating it too.

We have the same people complaining about Apple’s nice closed ecosystem, cheering for the EU to put thresholds that happen to target Apple directly and fine them worldwide (which I find crazy how they can put their hands in the pockets of every country Apple performs), side loading and whatnot… but somehow “sideloading” of satellite services, opening up the space spectrum, all of those things suddenly is a no.

They would rather Apple make these new options and endeavors go pound sand. Suddenly having an extra option, no matter how tight (EU, Epic, etc all have given ultimatums too for that matter) is met with raised eyebrows.
 
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