It's not exactly "satellite network", it's piggy-backing on an existing SAR reception infrastructure that used to require somewhat expensive dedicated devices.
Not sure it's a good idea, I'd expect a wave of SAR requests for not real emergencies.
While the consequences of easier communications when you get in trouble (or just get scared/tired) in the outdoors isn't intuitively obvious, SAR people I've chatted with generally seem to think that better comms is a net positive in that people can communicate before things get really dicey.
ADDED: There are also perhaps more common situations like going off the road in a snowstorm.
If I am getting this right, Apple and other device makers would have some kind of beacon registration for every single device it produces with the feature ?
