“Combine the iPod with satellite radio and what do you get? ‘The killer app,’ said Kit Spring, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company. Spring isn’t the only one who thinks so,” Krysten Crawford writes for CNN/Money. “iPods and satellite radios are the hottest electronic gadgets on the market today. Consumers can buy their favorite songs using an iPod and they can listen to their favorite genre, be it classic rock or country, on subscription satellite radio. But they can’t do both on a single device. ‘The iPod is the biggest, baddest thing around and satellite radio is this small, cool device,’ said Steve Mather, an analyst with Sander Morris Harris. ‘Put them together and it’s the ultimate.'”
Crawford writes, “There’s no evidence that such a dream machine is in the works. Earlier this year, Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin said he had approached Steve Jobs, the chief of iPod maker Apple Computer, about a possible deal but said Jobs wasn’t interested… At least one analyst thinks Apple (Research), which has sold millions of iPods, is an active participant notwithstanding its public indifference. ‘There’s got to be a ceiling on the size of the iPod market so Apple clearly has to be thinking about its next step,’ said Aram Sinnreich, a music industry researcher at the University of Southern California.”
“Apple would probably demand a hefty upfront fee in exchange for an exclusive deal with either XM Satellite or Sirius. Apple could also seek a share of satellite subscription revenues, a painful stipulation given that XM Satellite and Sirius need to recoup every dollar they can given the billions spent on talent and technology so far,” Crawford writes. “Stifel Nicolaus analyst Spring thinks something else is holding back a deal: Apple, he said, is developing its own subscription music service similar to what Sirius and XM Satellite offer. Under that plan, explains Spring, iPod users could download and essentially rent a play list of, say, 600 classic rock songs. The service would be similar to Napster’s monthly $14.95 subscription plan. Apple claims it isn’t developing a subscription service, but Spring says he’s not buying the denials. A subscription service, while not radio per se, ‘will make the iPod more of a substitute for satellite radio,’ said Spring.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple building satellite-based content delivery system? – March 29, 2005
RUMOR: Apple building satellite-based High Defintion Video Delivery system – March 22, 2005
Sirius CEO Karmazin looks to add satellite radio to Apple iPod; no deal – yet – February 10, 2005
Analyst throws cold water on Apple iPod – Sirius Satellite radio deal – December 16, 2004
Analysts: Apple iPod + Sirius Satellite Radio ‘technologically unfeasible right now’ – December 15, 2004
RUMOR: Apple to add SIRIUS Satellite Radio (and Howard Stern) to iPod in mid-2005 – December 10, 2004
satellite radio would be a welcome addition to the iPod, as long as it complemented, not hindered, the other functions. I don’t think they can combine the two quite yet in anything smaller than a brick, though
Typical narrow-focus thinking. Peopl seem to forget that there is a world beyond the US, and nowhere in that world except in the US uses satellite radio. Instead, the rest of the world uses DAB – Digital Audio Broadcasting – which is subscription-free and basically a digital version of regular radio.
Why would Apple produce an iPod which is useless, and unsellable, outside the US? Duh…. analysts need to get a life – and a passport.
People eat salad. People eat ice cream. I know! Let’s combine ’em into one product!
“You see — your stupid human brains! Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
Plan 9 From Outher Space
Well, Apple sells far more products in the US than they do anywhere else, so I doubt that has much to do with why there won’t be a satellite radio equipped iPod anytime soon. It’s more because it’s not practical when you consider the technology available at the moment. The thing wouldn’t work indoors and it would be the size of a brick basically. That’s why it’s not going to happen.
“There’s no evidence…”
Shoulda stopped right there. Can we have some articles based on facts, please?
I hate to say it, but I think I am in the market for a non-iPod device that offers Satellite, but more specifically, FM radio. Aside from these functions that I need, the iPod interface is just not going to work on my motorcycle. It will be too hard to scroll around, with a gloved hand, to select any playlists, etc. For a motorcylce, I’m going to need big buttons, and an easy to read display. Anyone know of anything good for motorcycles, especially if I could interface my iPod directly into it?
Wouldn’t the satellite music stations compete with the iTMS?
I just want to see a GOOD AM/FM tuner either built in, or a peripheral plug-in.
DDR-
Exactly what I was thinking. People always seem to ignore the fact that satellite radios don’t work indoors. How does this keep getting glossed over? Why in the world would Apple want to release something that would be so hindered when their reputation is built on consistency and “it just works”? Besides, if they were interested in something like this, a subscription iTunes service would make a lot more sense. It’s more personalized than satellite radio could ever be, and if you have to pay anyway why not have more control over what you get? Besides, Apple wouldn’t be sharing profits with Sirius or XM, and they’d be broadening iTunes reach instead of offering a reason not to use it.
The real reason Apple is not interested is because having a radio built-in severely decreases the battery time. I bought an FM transmitter to broadcast my iPod mini (18 hours of claimed battery life), and it only lasts for about 6 hours when connected to the transmitter. Sure, the iPod radio would be a receiver and would consume slightly less power than a transmitter, but wouldn’t the transmitter and receiver electronics conflict if I had an iTrip connect to an iPod radio.
For a good reason Apple SHOULDN’T include the radio you only have to look back at consumer electronics history. CD players with built-in FM tuners did not sell better or even close to the numbers of single function players. Sure, walkmans had success with radio, but that was when the antenna was the wire to your headphones. Nowadays, there’s everything from Bluetooth headsets to Bose sound systems that provide the auditory portion of the system. The same radio architecture wouldn’t work with the iPod. The best bet for iPod is to increase podcasting services and to promote the tools to do so. It’s time to switch to a services focus instead of a product focus.
Roy,
I hope you don’t ride around the Bay Area in California because otherwise you’ll be dead in no time listening to music on a motorbike.
Magic word being “crazy” as in you’ll be a crazy fool trying to do that on a bike.
Anybody know if XM or Sirius satellites have the bandwidth to distribute video?
i don’t care about sat. radio
i already have the ultimate radio station.. this could only be for talk radio then..
As long as it 80 to 100gigs and plays video, I don’t care what extra features it may have that I’ll never use anyway. Besides Australia and the rest of the world may get satelite radio one day.