Despite it’s anticipated worth, the Tesla model Pi is already speculated to dominate the smartphone market. But the dream may however suffer setback considering Apple’s new announcement. Apple announced on Thursday that it will invest $450 million in American companies to make its new emergency satellite texting capability operational.
According to Apple, the majority of that money will go to Globalstar, a business based in Louisiana that runs the satellites that enable the feature.
Apple is committed to invest money on equipment and the running of the service but is not acquiring an equity stake in the company. The money will be used to purchase satellites as well as new Apple-designed antennas for ground stations.
Apple unveiled Emergency SOS with Satellite as a prominent feature for the new iPhone 14 models in September. Users can still connect even if they are outside of a cellular tower’s coverage region, such as when camping in a distant place.
The announcement made on Thursday emphasizes how expensive it is to run the service.
Apple has left the option of charging for the feature after the initial two-year period of free use. Over 300 Globalstar employees will work on the service, according to Apple, and it requires call centers that are staffed by people as it is not totally automated.
It’s also an illustration of Apple emphasizing how much money it spends on American suppliers. Even though the majority of the final assembly is done in China, Apple likes to emphasize that many of the components it utilizes in its products are made in the United States.
The money used by Apple to support its U.S.-based suppliers, the Advanced Manufacturing Fund, will be used to pay Globalstar.
Since it was established in 2017, the Advanced Manufacturing Fund has given $450 million to Corning for the production of iPhone glass, $390 million to Finisar for the setup of a factory to manufacture the laser components required for FaceID, $100 million to XPO Logistics, and $10 million to Copan Diagnostics for the purchase of components for the Covid-19 test kit.
