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Even a “pre-pay for a day of help” would be great. You could spend $100 in January, and keep that credit on file; then, if you need help in September, you can start up your 24-hour window.

But given the era of recurring subscription revenue above all else, I think we know how Apple will handle this.




So basically, pre-pay your home insurance for a day of fire?


I agree that insurance is maybe not the best analogy. You need satellite capacity to send one text message. When your house burns down, you need potentially hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

The satellites are expensive, of course, but most traffic is not cell phone users needing to be rescued.


Putting up Satellites is pretty much a fixed cost. It's not like insurance. Apple is not paying for your rescue. The text costs maybe $0.25 to send.

A 1 time upfront access fee, to cover satellite fixed costs, plus a per-use fee to cover marginal costs.

Subscription-only leaves money on the table.


It's a viable insurance model, although typically only seen with warranties.


Also, you know, it is possible to pre-pay insurance. Right?


It's more like pre-pay your fire insurance or fire fighters will let your house burn which has already been tried.




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