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Apple Extends Satellite Messaging As IPhone 16 Announced

Saturday, 14 September 2024, 8:01 pm
Article: Bill Bennett

Apple announced its iPhone 16 range of mobiles at a wide ranging launch event that includes new Watches and AirPods. The company also unveiled plans to extend its satellite message services, although, for now, there is nothing for New Zealand customers.

The new iPhones now include a camera control button and a slider that make it easier to access the camera app.

In effect this completes the iPhones’ journey from being a mobile handset to being a camera bolstered with computing and connectivity features.

The main 48 megapixel camera includes a 2x telephoto zoom. There is also a 12 megapixel ultra-wide camera with autofocus. The arrangement allows stereoscopic images and ‘spatial photos’.

Apple’s A18 chip

Both the iPhone 16 and the iPhone Plus use the A18 chip. This is based on 3nm technology and includes a 16-core neural engine to handle AI processing. There is a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU.

A key part of Apple’s phone announcement is the introduction of Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI offering. This will not be available when the phone hardware first appears, but will come as part of a free update. A US English version will arrive next month, local language versions will be later.

New Zealand prices for the iPhone 16 Pro start at NZ$2000 while the base model iPhone 16 Pro Max is $2400. The phones will be available from next Friday.

Other hardware announcements include the Apple Watch Series 10. Among other new features, it will now be able to diagnose and track sleep apnea. AirPods 4 have upgraded features and can now be used as hearing aids.

Satellite connectivity for some users

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Hidden in Apple’s iPhone announcement are more details about the company’s satellite offering which could potentially bypass traditional mobile carriers. For now the service is rudimentary and while the emergency service works in New Zealand the other communications features are not yet available here.

Apple's announement says:

Powered by the same groundbreaking technology as Emergency SOS via satellite, users are able to connect to the nearest satellite to send and receive texts, emoji, and Tapbacks over iMessage and SMS while outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

Messages via satellite in iOS 18 are end-to-end encrypted.

Also new with iOS 18, Emergency SOS Live Video allows users to share a live video feed or photos with participating emergency dispatchers during an emergency call.

Later this spring, Roadside Assistance via satellite — which connects users to a roadside assistance provider if they have car trouble while off the grid — expands beyond the US to the UK.

Connexa buys American Tower Corporations’ site interests

Connexa has agreed to purchase all the shares of ATC New Zealand, the local subsidiary of American Tower Corporation.

Rob Berrill, Connexa CEO, says ATC New Zealand is a property business owning land and land rights under third-party owned and operated cell towers.

The towers are and continue to be owned by the likes of Connexa and other tower operators who pay a rental to ATC New Zealand to have their infrastructure located on ATC New Zealand land.

While the agreement is subject to Overseas Investment Act consent, the parties expect it to close either later this year or early in 2025.

Connexa was formed two years ago when Spark sold a share of its tower network to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. When the business acquired the 2degrees tower networkSpark reduced its stake to 17 percent. Today it is the nation’s largest tower company.

2degrees claims WiFi 7 first

2degrees says it is the first New Zealand company to offer customers WiFi 7 routers. The company will offer those on its Hyperfibre plans the TP Link BE22000 (HB810) router.

Chief Business Officer Andrew Fairgray says the router is idea for small and medium sized businesses where a number of people work online simultaneously. He also expects it to appeal to gamers: “Who want fast speeds and low latency for online gaming”.

Rocket Mobile introduces flexible group plans

Rocket Mobile says it now sells group plans which can include unlimited mobile data options running at different data speeds.

The MVNO, which was formerly known as MyRepublic and remains a subsidiary of the Singapore service provider, says this is a new way of selling mobile.

“Most providers only either offer discounts on the companion plans, force everyone to stick to the same plan, have them all billed on the same account and payment card, require credit checks, bundling with other utilities, the list goes on”, says James Whittome, Rocket’s head of mobile.

“We take away all of the pain by giving a discount to everyone in the group on an eligible plan, allowing customers to pick and mix their plans, and keep separate accounts. You can do it all yourself through our website, without having to call or go into a store.”

Kordia renews Maritime NZ contract

Kordia says it has renewed its $55 million Maritime NZ contract. The 10-year deal will see the company provide a safety radio network covering an area of ocean stretching from the equator to the South Pole, going halfway across the Tasman Sea and halfway across the Pacific towards South America.

It includes provisions to invest in infrastructure and equipment upgrades at the Maritime Operations Centre Kordia operates in Wellington. Together the Maritime Operations Centre and Maritime Radio Network form a Maritime NZ service that Kordia built, operates, manages and maintains.

The next 12 months will see Kordia work with Maritime NZ to replace the system currently used by radio operators at the operations centre. It will also upgrade sites and infrastructure in the network.

Starlink hold-up final twist to ComCom stop letter

A year ago the Commerce Commission’s Fair Trading Branch sent a stop letter telling One New Zealand to halt its 100 per cent mobile coverage marketing campaign.

The campaign started after Vodafone rebranded as One NZ. At the time, the company announced a satellite-to-mobile deal with Starlink. Starlink told One NZ the service would be live before the end of 2024 and that was the message in the marketing.

Businesses linked to Elon Musk have a history of failing to meet self-imposed deadlines. The Tesla Cybertruck arrived two years after its planned launch. In 2016 Tesla promised self driving cars by 2018. Customers are still waiting.

Certainty

Which underlines the Commerce Commission’s argument that One NZ could not say with certainty it would have 100 percent mobile coverage by the end of 2024.

And it turns out the regulator was right. Any mention of 100 percent coverage in 2024 has gone from One NZ’s site. This is in contrast to the fanfare when One NZ first announced it would have coverage everywhere.

SpaceX has launched most of the satellites that could deliver the coverage, but it can’t be switched on until US regulators give it the all clear. And that clearance appears to have been delayed because rival US mobile operators, AT&T and Verizon, have complained the service interferes with their land-based mobile networks.

While this could be seen as a tactic to slow competition, there does seem to be a factual basis for the claim. Either way, it appears One NZ’s 100 percent coverage could arrive later than promised.

Spark IoT helping to restore the Southern Hemisphere’s largest natural harbour

Anne-Fleur van Leeuwen on the Kaipara Moana.

Spark IoT is working with water monitoring business Phathom to help protect and restore the Kaipara Moana, which is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest natural harbour.

The pair are providing the connectivity and technology used by researcher Anne-Fleur van Leeuwen to focus her PhD on the effects of river sediment and nutrient dispersal in the Kaipara Moana.

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Mobile phones are not linked to brain and head cancers, a comprehensive review of the highest quality evidence available commissioned by the World Health Organisation has found.

Led by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (Arpansa), the systematic review examined more than 5,000 studies from which the most scientifically rigorous were identified and weak studies were excluded.

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5G-dekning i Norge 2024
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From 10 years ago on the website:

Australian web pages download faster in New Zealand than in Sydney
Ultrafast broadband began picking up steam about a decade ago and New Zealand’s network was well ahead of Australia’s. Up to a point it still is. At that time, New Zealanders were seeing average download speeds of 21 Mbps (across all technologies) compared with the 16 Mbps average download speed in Australia.

The Download Weekly is supported by Chorus New Zealand.

Apple extends satellite messaging as iPhone 16 announced was first posted at billbennett.co.nz.

Bill Bennett

Freelance journalist.

Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.

His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.

Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here. If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.