“Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin has spoken with Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steven Jobs about working together, a Sirius executive [CFO David Frear] said,” Bloomberg reports via the New York Post. “Sirius’s S50 portable satellite radio, which costs $330 and was introduced this year, allows customers to download programs and fast-forward or rewind. The device also stores music files, which may pose a threat to Apple’s digital-music dominance with the iPod devices, which range in price from $99 to $400.”
“‘Would we be interested in working with Apple? Sure. I’m not sure it’s likely to happen, Frear said,” Bloomberg reports.
Full article here.
Forget adding live satellite receive capability into iPods for now. With the podcast idea posited in the headline, a couple of signatures, a quick daily encode, a couple of graphics and some text and it’s all set to go on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Sell the shows a day after for a reasonable price. Or would that put too much of a dent in Sirius’ heavily-Howard-dependent subscription signups?
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Related articles:
Apple iPod combined with Sirius Satellite Radio would be a music revolution – May 27, 2005
Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Karmazin discusses Sirius-enabled Apple iPod – May 25, 2005
Sirius CEO Karmazin looks to add satellite radio to Apple iPod; no deal – yet – February 10, 2005
Sirius has approached Apple on adding service to iPod – February 09, 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
Non-Apple news: Howard Stern signs deal with SIRIUS satellite radio – October 06, 2004
I don’t know, MDN. Your take sounds workable, but before too long I think Steve will HAVE to look at working out something with Sirius.
With Stern onboard they are set to become the leader in that market space, and the combination of advertising-free music from Sirius coupled with the storing & cataloging features of iTunes/iPod seems a perfect fit.
Discover new music every now and then on Sirius, purchase it for your iPod on iTunes.
Something needs to be worked out between Apple & Sirius here.
Who wants to listen to Howard Stern?
“Who wants to listen to Howard Stern?”
^ stormy, can you say “millions”?
[mocking] Yah. I knew you could. [/mocking]
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact Stern really has though. To put it in perspective, Apple sells more iPods in a single quarter than Sirius has total subscribers.
Satellite radio simply isn’t anywhere near a mainstream product. Until/unless it ever is, Apple doesn’t really “have” to work out anything with them.
Howard Stern is <i><b>BORING<b><i>!
Stip off his shock jock veneer and he has nothing to say.
Dingus – you know the world is full of <i>millions<i> of stupid losers.
Yah SJR, but the thinking is that Stern WILL make it mainstream. That coupled with all the portable radios will be what propel it into the “mainstream”.
But I have a question: Has anyone here ever actually USED one of the portable Sirius radios? If so, how do they work? Is the reception good? Or do you really need a big, stationary, desktop-size unit?
Yes, qka, I do.
Like people who don’t know how to use text modifiers. Like italic ones and bold ones.
See ya.
I love it when someone doesn’t like something and then assumes everyone else must dislike it also. Because like their mother has been telling them since they were in diapers, they are, in fact, the center of the universe.
QKA, mommy still loves you, go ask for your bottle.
And everyone has the same taste as you, ignore those pesky facts, you know the ones that show that millions of people actually don’t. Your self contained little world is a much nicer place to live I am sure.
For instance I think the hundreds of people on this board who make poor attempts to incorporate the “MDN Magic Word” into their comments are morons.
Those morons actually think they are being witty. So my opinions don’t actually speak for everybody. So we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one.
I think that Apple selling Sirus on iTunes would be perfect for Sirus because they could sell a show for 1.99.
Think about this it only cost 12 bucks a month for subscription so to sell a single show and profit about a 1.59 would boost Sirus profits bigtime. Also if someone like Howard Stern or anyone else on Sirus would say or do something that people would want to buy to listen to it again then you would have subscribers shelling out 2 bucks more.
It’s not hard to see Sirus wanting to do this but the real gamble is on Apple because if they would sell Sirus would it backfire on Apple which Apple would not sell as many iPods – iTunes songs because people replaced a iPod with a Sirus Radio.
That’s what I feel is the reason behind Steve Jobs not jumping on this.
Here’s what Sirius should do: Build a device which attaches to an iPod and picks up Sirius.
I mean, Apple has sold something like 30 million iPods. Sirius has something like 4 million subscribers. Where is the benefit to Apple in partnering with Sirius?
Sirius would be smarter to build the device which attaches to iPods–thus giving them a shot at selling to their subscribers who already have iPods and those people with iPods who don’t have Sirius Satellite Radio. This is a better idea than building your own player…
Howard Sterns show will be recorded and digitally traded on P2P networks, for use on ipod.
How many of his cheepskate listeners will pay for that monthly charge for Sirius? Definatly not all of them, his numbers will drop DRAMATICALLY.
If he and Sirius set up an iTunes deal, it will
only help his listener base. I think a deal will come together between sirius and itunes. It’s a win/win.
Sirius will keep their subscriber model and then make extra money by allowing itunes to sell day old shows.
Please forward my call to Mr Frear.
Sirius should make Stern available on iTunes for $1.99 for non-Sirius subscribers, and for less (.99?) for Sirius subscribers. That way, Sirius gives added value to subscribers, and Apple gets another 4 million people with incentive to buy or upgrade ipods. Let’s face it, the more content from any source on iTunes, the more desireable ipods become. I’m not a Stern fan, but I know one or two who would buy ipods just for the ease of downloading and listening to him on their own schedule. It could be a great partnership – remember that Sirius is a content provider, not a hardware concern, where Apple is a hardware company, with outstanding software, looking for content.
willrobinson- well said.
Howard Stern has an estimated 12 million listeners.
Bridge Ratings & Research estimates 1.4 million will follow him to Sirius.
Personally, I don’t think he matters. Of course, I don’t like his show and I’m the center of the universe – so that should tell you something.
Howard Stern? If I wanted to hear from an a–hole, I’d fart!
MW=short. His pecker most likely.
I don’t see Satellite coming to the iPod (built in) because Sat. Radio is US & Canada only. It’s totally useless to the rest of the world…
Besides, who wants to see Apple become like creative? Putting every damned thing they can into an MP3 player..
Why not? You can watch Howard Stern on On Demand cable, so why not a podcast? It makes sense to me.
Sirius radio 12.95 a month.
Howard Stern on iTunes : .99 cents a day = +-23.00 a month.
It doesnt make much sense that anyone would pay for it on iTunes – but who knows, selling TV episodes at 1.99 a pop doesnt make much sense either, but it seems to be working so what do I know? (yes, that was rhetoric).
In either case, Howard is going to be all over the p2p networks, and since his should is out daily – I expect the whole damn internet to come grinding to a halt because of it.
Damn you Howard, damn you to hell!