Elon Musk to launch 4000 Satellites for World Wide Connectivity

From what I've read, he plans to have 4000 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) rather than the usual Geostationary Orbit, which is a difference of around 35,000 km in terms of radius of the orbit. This is ~0.12 seconds of latency each way, which will go a long way in reducing the usual lag in satellite networks.

If you're wondering why other companies haven't done this before, it's because LEO's experience atmospheric drag from the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere, and thus require constant(if small amounts) of thrust to remain in orbit. As well, because they're a lot closer to the Earth, satellites in LEO "see" a lot less of the Earth's surface, which means you need a big network of them to cover everybody. This is quite a large investment for a return that isn't really better than cabled internet in non-rural areas (where a majority of customers are going to be). - 

This could also potentially revolutionize m2m applications where existing cell infrastructure can't reach or service is too poor and may even be better depending on connection speed and cost of the data.

On a side note: 

75% of me believes that Elon Musk is a time traveller. He won a contest in the future to go back in time and he started forming all the successful companies from the future. Look at him in interviews, look at his body language closely. He can't believe he's getting away with it. He's constantly trying to hold back laughter, he can't believe it's so easy and everyone is falling for it. Even his name sounds like he's from the future! 

Mark my words, mark my words. I'm onto you Musk! :D