APPLE

Key words found:

i in the Sky- Iridium (77) - Syria? - high-precision satellite navigation projects for the likes of the U.S. Navy- Product(RED) - Shell corporations

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iPhone Goes International with Iridium

"Apple’s iPhone has proven wildly popular around the world, even in countries where there’s no official carrier (see “iPhone the Hot Ticket Item in… Syria?,” 2008-03-24). Although Apple will continue to negotiate deals with carriers in larger countries, we’ve learned that the company has quietly been working on an innovative plan that will enable the iPhone to work literally anywhere in the world.

i in the Sky — Iridium is a mesh network of 66 communications satellites in low earth orbit aimed at providing a truly global voice and data network. The service came online on 01-Nov-98, but went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy less than a year later, due to the massive startup costs (estimated at $6 billion) of launching so many satellites. Other problems included the decreased cost of terrestrial cell service, increased use of roaming agreements between terrestrial carriers, the high cost of both handsets and service, and management failures. In 2001, the service was purchased by a group of private investors for about $25 million and service was restarted. The new Iridium Satellite LLC currently has about 250,000 customers, and 2007 revenue may have been as high as $300 million.

Much of Iridium’s business comes from the U.S. Department of Defense, which invested to keep Iridium alive and remains the company’s largest customer, paying $36 million per year for unlimited access for up to 20,000 users. Apple is expected to keep the DoD contract, and although the close connection with the U.S. military may cause consternation among some iPhone and Macintosh users, Apple insiders say that the deal may also open up many other lucrative opportunities within U.S. federal, state, and local governments, as well as overseas governments.

https:// tidbits.com/2008/04/01/iphone-goes-international-with-iridium/

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>>1282607

iPhone the Hot Ticket Item in… Syria?

TidBITS reader Julian Allason reports that the iPhone has spread well beyond Apple’s supported countries, even to places that might not come to mind as Apple’s next major iPhone launch market, like Syria. Julian writes, “You will be amused to hear that the hottest topic everywhere I have been in Syria is – the iPhone. Almost everyone recognises mine and rushes over (well, not the women, who merely ululate from a distance). It is freely available with, I think, v. 1.1.4 unlocked. Prices are US$600-625 with a ‘bulletproof’ guarantee! The two Syrian cell networks offer very cheap minutes, but then prices outside the Four Seasons Hotel are low here. Where do these iPhones come from? One theory is that the iPhones originate with U.S. forces in Iraq and come back on the empty convoys of lorries.”

https://tidbits.com/2008/03/24/iphone-the-hot-ticket-item-in-syria/

The Iridium satellite constellation was conceived in the early 1990s, as a way to reach high Earth latitudes with reliable satellite communication services.[5] Early calculations showed that 77 satellites would be needed, hence the name Iridium – after the metal with atomic number 77. It turned out that just 66 were required to complete the blanket coverage of the planet with communication services.[5][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation#Satellites

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>>1282618

>>1282607

How Coherent Navigation can help Apple with location technology and talent

Apple's recent acquisition of Coherent Navigation, a California firm that worked on high-precision satellite navigation projects for the likes of the U.S. Navy, might at first seem a bit outside of the iPhone maker's wheelhouse. But a closer look reveals what could, in fact, be an excellent match.

Apple already augments the built-in GPS on its devices in a number of ways. Wi-Fi positioning, tower multilateration, inertial navigation, and A-GPS are all in the company's arsenal.

Apple's army of vans points to a wide-ranging effort to produce high-resolution geospatial data. Combined with ultra-accurate positioning, that could be a significant advantage for the company's rumored self-driving car project.

Of course, it's also possible that Coherent had pivoted to develop some new technology that it had yet to publicly reveal. Before it was pulled down last month, Coherent's website said that the firm was "working on high-precision GPS solutions that work with the Iridium [sic]," but was only offering current products to the U.S. government and its allies.

In short, this looks like a prototypical Apple acquisition: a small company with a smart, well-respected team built around an impressive core technology that will likely form the anonymous foundation of a still-unknown product.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/18/how-coherent-navigation-can-help-apple-with-location-technology-and-talent

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>>1282648

>>1282618

>>1282607

The SixtyEight-Apple connection

A company identified only as "SixtyEight LLC" was registered last March in Delaware, then licensed as a foreign corporation in California last November. Notably, that firm later paid to import a 1957 Fiat Multipla 600 from the U.K. into the U.S.

Jony Ive, Apple's British-born head of design, is known to have a soft spot for the Fiat 500 that he drove while in school. He and co-designer Marc Newson also auctioned off a Product(RED) Fiat 600 back in 2013.

SixtyEight's affiliation with Apple could not be confirmed, but Apple does have a long history of using shell corporations and deceptive methods to hide its secret projects. Aside from a barren website, there is scant other information about SixtyEight— lending more credence to its use as a front.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/03/13/project-titan-sixtyeight-sg5-inside-apples-top-secret-electric-car-project

PARTNER ECOSYSTEM

Iridium CertusSM Distribution Expands; Enables Globally ‘Connected Vehicles’, Assets and Teams

Next wave of Iridium Crtus service providers selected to deliver this next-generation satellite broadband solution for land-mobile applications. Includes Globalsat, IEC Telecom, Marlink, McQ, Pivotel and Tesam Argentina S.A. (“Tesacom”).

https://www.iridium.com/

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>>1282663

i in the Sky…

makes me think RFID tech by Apple.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/07/14/rfid-tech-expansion-in-ios-11-allows-apple-iphone-to-authenticate-goods-buy-on-the-spot