Apple's new Emergency SOS via satellite feature is surprisingly involved.

The whole process of sending an SOS involves dialing 911, waiting for the call to fail, initiating a satellite connection, answering some questions about your emergency, notifying emergency contacts and moving your phone around to make a good connection -- and all this happens before you start texting with someone in an emergency contact center.

However, Apple cleverly designed the system to trigger automatically in the event of a crash or fall (if you have these features turned on) -- and will make contact even if you are unconscious.

Early hands-on tests say the system works well.

Apple rolled out the service in the United States and Canada today, and plans to extend it to more countries next month. In the future, everyone with an iPhone should have immediate access to emergency services, no matter where they are.

This is a game-changer, and I hope I never have to use it myself!

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

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One more thing ...

"You've got to be willing to fail. You've got to be willing to crash and burn -- you know, with people on the phone, with starting a company, whatever. If you're afraid of failing, you won't get very far." -- Steve Jobs, 1994.