The Iridium story: A marketing disconnect
Not all products go on to succeed in the market. The market is filled with many examples from
all corners of the world regarding product failure. There are many reasons for a product to fail in
the market, such as wildly inflated expenses, wildly underestimated problems, and wildly off-
base timetables. One such example of the product plan failure can be attributed to the Iridium
project; the $5 billion global satellite-based wireless telephone system conceived and chiefly
sponsored by Motorola.
The Iridium project was a go-anywhere telecommunication project system that would eventually
come to be comprised of 66 telecommunication satellites circling g=the planet at 17,000 mules
an hour in low altitude orbits. In simple language, the Iridium project by Motorola enabled the
user to operate and use the calling service at any part of the world to call at any part of the world.
This would help the user to call anyone from the wildest corners of the world like Antarctica, the
Amazon forest at any place.
The company followed the sayings of Graham Bell, who thought of having the calls without the
wires, just passed through the air without the use of directly attached wires. But what went
wrong? The Iridium fail to meet a $90-million bond payment in July 1999, file for bankruptcy
protection in August, and have its chief backer pull the plug?
This can further be understood by the failure in 4 Ps and the targeted market.
Products
The Iridium cell phone had a distinctive knobby antenna that differentiated the Iridium cell from
the other cells. The product was bulky and heavy as compared to other phones. It was heavy in
terms of weight and required a lot of space to fit in. It cannot be carried in a suitcase. It has some
network issues; the initial quality of the transition service was worse. Also, the system was only
equipped to serve only about 25,000 callers at a time.
Pricing
The price of the Iridium phone was quite high as compared to the other phones. The phone was
priced at a whopping $3000, which came down to $1500 after quite some time, but still, it was
quite high as compared to the other phones or devices in the world. Another defect in the pricing
