To sell a world phone, play to executive fears of being out of touch; satellite consortium chooses to use that pitch for bid to build a global brand overnight; beaming the logo on clouds

Article Abstract:

The international consortium, Iridium, hopes to make its mobile phone that can work anywhere in the planet a global brand with the help of a $180 million public relations, advertising and world-wide direct mailing campaign. The brick-size device with an expected initial price of $3,000 will communicate using a network of 66 satellites and connect with land-based cellular networks in 90 countries. The project which has taken about 12 years to complete and has cost $5 billion is a crazy-quilt alliance of numerous investors including arms of the Chinese and Russian governments. The members are loosely organized into 14 regional 'gateways' that represent ground stations that receive and direct Iridium calls. In addition to competition from rival satellite-based cellular phone systems, Iridium's marketing effort has been an uphill task, often taking the shape of a global garble.

Satellite Communications Eqp, Planning, Product development, Product information, Marketing, Satellite communications, Satellite communications services industry, Company marketing practices, Iridium L.L.C., Satellite communications systems, Company product planning, Company business planning, GSM, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)

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An inventor's promise has companies taking big cellular gamble; Qualcomm boss's innovation in digital-phone system is problematic--and late; are claims hope or hype?

Article Abstract:

The telecommunications industry is wondering whether Qualcomm CEO Irwin Jacobs should be praised or blamed for the industry's multibillion-dollar investment in CDMA digital-telephone technology. Jacobs invented important parts of the CDMA advanced digital-wireless system in the late 1980s and companies like Motorola and Lucent Technologies have spent $2 billion developing CDMA devices. The companies are planning further expenditures, and the industry already paid $18 billion to the FCC for the radio spectrum rights necessary for such digital services. Jacobs contends that CDMA is the long-term solution for expanding the capacity of cellular-phone systems and the development of low-cost digital superphones. The market is already three years late in developing and it is not yet clear whether CDMA technology is better than existing technologies.

Innovations, Technology development, Digital communications, Jacobs, Irwin L., Digital communication

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Sales surge for wireless-phone makers; Dataquest says unit sales increased by 51% in 1998 as Nokia took the lead

Article Abstract:

In the estimated $27.7 billion 1998 market for wireless phones, Nokia Corp. holds the lead. That market jumped 51% over 1997 sales, 162.9 million units over 107.8 million units. Motorola is the U.S. company that placed second to the Finnish Nokia. To work in the U.S. so that 'coverage' is not spotty, wireless phones must be flexible enough to work with a variety of systems standards, whereas, in Europe there is a single digital standard.

United States, Sales & consumption, Supply and demand, Abstract

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