Jane Edwards
Iridium Communications and Qualcomm Technologies have agreed to enable satellite and emergency messaging services in various smartphone brands with plans to expand the capability to personal computers, vehicles and other consumer devices.
Smartphones equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite, which is backed by the Iridium satellite network, will enable users to gain global coverage and transmit emergency messages, Iridium said Thursday.
Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium and an eight-time Wash100 awardee, said collaborating with Qualcomm enables the company to “serve the smartphone industry horizontally – and offers us an opportunity to enable other consumer and vehicular applications in the future.”
Iridium said emergency messaging service using Snapdragon Satellite is expected to launch in Android smartphones in select regions beginning in the second half of 2023.
