> what is left to monetise?

Low latency, high bandwidth

Apple/Google have the financial brawn to push a disrupting technology into more common use. And this is not encumbered by any restrictive licenses.

It really isnt a disrupting technoology. It doesnt work as soon as you are far away from any other humans with phones.

Range? Bandwidth? A solution like that would work only in limited circumstances. It’d be neat but no replacement for cellular.

Sure. But if you have a semi reliable way of getting messages to loved ones either through the distributed net completely or using a satellite hop somewhere, then you have captured a big chunk of what people really want. When you are at home you can just use your WiFi.

At least in my case, I’m just using messages on the road. Obviously it’s not going to be a solution for sparsely populated areas.