Iridium failure

Group 7
Bad strategy
unrealistic planning, insufficient management control, bungled marketing and, most
surprisingly, technological pigheadedness.

build a stand-alone network in space
handsets cost pounds 1,900 and calls were as much as pounds 5 per minute
clunky, weighed about 1lb, and harkened back to Motorola's infamous brick phones
delayed setting up marketing teams and organising distribution channels.
In the UK, Orange delayed offering services until April, a full year after the company
agreed to become a service provider
limited functionality and fraud protection,
No focus on people in developing countries and remote parts of the US where land-line
or mobile phone networks don't exist.
No special edge in high value-added services like video-conferencing.
Bad Execution
pounds 60m international marketing campaign, Iridium had managed to
attract less than 20,000 customers compared with a guarantee of 52,000
Iridium's internal structure
Board meetings of the 28 directors
Iridium won't work indoors. Worse, dropped calls are common, completion
rates low, while other network functions perform unevenly.
required users to undergo special training
phone's key features, a cartridge allowing users to switch from satellite to
conventional mobile networks when coverage was available, has been
almost non-existent.
Bad Luck
Barry Bertingers wife famously complained of not being able to
phone the US while on holiday in the Caribbean