Why did Colussy buy Iridium? A top executive in the new firm said that Colussy just found the elimination of the satellites a terrible waste Perhaps he had some niche uses in mind, as even before September 11, 2001, he had begun to enroll some new customers, such as the Colombian national police, who no doubt found the system useful in the fighting drug lords But it was in the aftermath of 9/11 that its subscriber list really began to grow and its re-opening was deemed a stroke of genius Today Iridium’s customers include ships at sea (which account for about half of its business), airlines, military uses, and a variety of commercial and humanitarian applications Sources: Kevin Maney, “Remember Those ‘Iridium’s Going to Fail’ Jokes? Prepare to Eat Your Hat,” USA Today, April 9, 2003: p 3B Michael Mecham, “Handheld Comeback: A Resurrected Iridium Counts Aviation, Antiterrorism Among Its Growth Fields,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, 161: (September 6, 2004): p 58 Iridium’s webpage can be found at Iridium.com ANSWER TO TRY IT! PROBLEM At a price of $81, Acme’s marginal revenue curve is a horizontal line at $81 The firm produces the output at which marginal cost equals marginal revenue; the curves intersect at a quantity of jackets per day Acme’s average total cost at this level of output equals $67, for an economic profit per jacket of $14 Acme’s economic profit per day equals about $126 Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 495