Why is Amazon interested in Globalstar? The first thing that comes to my mind is like... Amazon's lowkey business model is "pick unsexy, logistics-heavy areas and just Do The Work better than others until a niche is carved out."
And from that POV I think the acquisition makes sense, but I'm not sure how this benefits the existing constellation of Amazon IP. Is it more like an attempt to have a relevant AWS-like play but for satcom because they see demand in that area growing a ton? Okay sure but is Globalstar really getting you that unlock?
It's largely because Amazon started Leo / Project Kuiper in the late 2010s when Jeff Bezos was still CEO of Amazon. Musk and Bezos both run rival spaceflight companies, and during this era, Musk and Bezos had multiple public spats stemming from:
1) Blue Origin & SpaceX competing for the same NASA / DoD resources.
2) Blue Origin using government processes to block / stall contracts that would go to SpaceX.
When Musk fired a number of Seattle-based Starlink execs in mid-2018, Bezos took them in to build a competing product. After Starship launched its inaugural flight and it was clear Blue was 10-15 years behind SpaceX, the rivalry died down. By then, Bezos had already stepped down as CEO of Amazon. Now Amazon Leo / Project Kuiper exists as an inherited project.
Much like their customers, I suspect Amazon themselves don't actually ever do anything other than buy random shit they won't ever use...at least on the space side. I know a bunch of people who work out at the cape and it sounds horrid.
Why is Amazon interested in Globalstar? The first thing that comes to my mind is like... Amazon's lowkey business model is "pick unsexy, logistics-heavy areas and just Do The Work better than others until a niche is carved out."
And from that POV I think the acquisition makes sense, but I'm not sure how this benefits the existing constellation of Amazon IP. Is it more like an attempt to have a relevant AWS-like play but for satcom because they see demand in that area growing a ton? Okay sure but is Globalstar really getting you that unlock?