After months of delay, AT&T and TerreStar Networks have introduced a hybrid smartphone that can uplink to a satellite if it cannot connect with cellular service. The TerreStar Genus is intended for business customers — particularly government, energy, disaster responders, maritime or transportation employees and small businesses — and carries a $799 price tag that would be prohibitive to ordinary consumers.
A voice, text and data plan is required, with the additional satellite coverage available for $25 per month and 65 cents per minute. Satellite text messages are only 40 cents, but the cost of web surfing is high: $5 per megabyte.
Consumer Appeal?
“This is focused on vertical markets where cellular coverage isn’t available,” said wireless industry analyst Gerry Purdy of MobilTrax. A consumer version of the phone is planned down the road, and TerreStar’s web site is now collecting information from those who want to be kept up to date.
But Purdy said the idea isn’t likely to catch on among consumers “unless someone lives in a place that is not covered by a cell phone.” Sprint Nextel and AirTouch, a predecessor of Verizon Wireless, have previously tried to sell satellite phones, but could not find a market for them.
The TerreStar Genus is powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5, has a touchscreen as well as a wired QWERTY keyboard, and is equipped with standard cell-phone features such as a 2.0-megapixel camera, GPS and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability.
The service can be useful for those who travel offshore or in areas where there are few or no cellular towers, but TerreStar warns that the device will only connect if there are no impediments, such as trees or buildings, in the way of the transmission. Dallas, Texas-based TerreStar launched its own satellite for this purpose, the 65-foot TerreStar 1, in July, the largest commercial…