this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023
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I work on a ship and am in the Galapagos right now. Thr island is covered in Starlink terminals and they've changed the internet existence here. Posting this via public starlink WiFi. I have a friend in the Philippines, and same there, huge impact.
His point about your US centric point is valid.
Starlink has many issues network wise, but the price point is per country so it is still being well used around the world in rural existence.
You don't understand today's economy.
Companies today run below costs to trick you into thinking they are legitimate businesses.
You need to calculate the actual costs of launching 60,000 satellites every 5 years because this dumbass idea literally falls out of the sky because the orbit paths are so low.
Much like how Uber or MoviePass have fake business models with fake prices for years, Starlink has a fake price on the consumer facing side.
So how do we get closer to the real price? We look at the thousands of terminals or other large scale deployments of Starlink. Like Ukraine's $2500 price point.
I understand that $100/month internet is gamechanging. However, it is also fake if it's coming from Starlink, because we Americans can find companies for years to make a loss in 3rd world countries and fake our growth.
Adjust the stats closer to reality, and you see the immediate problems.
Hey you make some really good points and I appreciate your contribution to the discussion, but maybe dial it back 20% on the sass. You don't need to make it personal by saying
Anyways, assuming that your assertions are accurate, what's the angle for Musk? You're implying Starlink will corner the market in certain areas with unrealistic price points, and then raise prices eventually? Or is there a more insidious corporate strategy I'm not recognizing?
Basically, yeah. I'm not saying they "will" do that, but this is what they're hoping to accomplish.
Think jet.com, Uber (and UberEats), WeWork, Bird scooters, etc. etc. This isn't anything particular to Musk, this is just how US companies have operated over the past 10 years.
Musk is good at this strategy mind you. But he's hardly unique in regards to doing it. MoviePass was really bad at this strategy, but plenty of others "succeeded". (Not true success in my books, but a financial success in that they got big enough that a big bank bought them out and they're hundred-millionaires now. Even if the company is worthless with terrible business plan like jet.com was, if the company leaders/owners were bought out, they see that as a personal success). Key to this strategy is raising more-and-more money from venture capitalists and IPO / SPOs by hyping (over-hyping) and misleading your statistics a bit. Speaking in half truths, pretend you're solving world-changing problems (We're going to Mars!!!!), etc. etc. Its all a package deal.
Yup, spot on. Neo-robber barons, but this time around they don't even have to build something tangible to make their fortunes.