Then there is a breakthrough. Afterwards, everyone claims they knew it was a dumb idea all along, but they were just following orders. Let s look at some examples. But it had so much behind it. A lot of smart people and a lot of rich people backed it, along with really major corporations.
Iridium is the satellite telephone system that was intended to link everyone in the world.
In principle, with an Iridium telephone, a person could call from anywhere in the world to anyone else who had any kind of telephone. Most importantly, there were very acceptable and much cheaper alternatives, mainly cellphones. Next on the list of negatives is the fact that those who needed Iridium the most could not afford it. The Iridium concept is most useful in countries with a minimal communications infrastructure. But the inhabitants of countries with a minimal communications infrastructure cannot afford the high price for the telephone and the very high price per minute of usage.