XM Sirius (finally) developing an iPhone app; too little too late?
Summary: Engadget reports that satellite radio provider XM Sirius has announced that the company is developing an iPhone application to receive satellite radio content streamed over the Internet.During a recent earnings conference call Sirius CFO David Frear confirmed what XM Chief Marketing Officer Vernon Irvin told attendees of the Federated Media Conversation Marketing Summit in June 2008 - that the company is working on a native iPhone client for XM's XM Radio Mobile service.
Engadget reports that satellite radio provider XM Sirius has announced that the company is developing an iPhone application to receive satellite radio content streamed over the Internet.
During a recent earnings conference call Sirius CFO David Frear confirmed what XM Chief Marketing Officer Vernon Irvin told attendees of the Federated Media Conversation Marketing Summit in June 2008 - that the company is working on a native iPhone client for XM's XM Radio Mobile service.
Unfortunately the revelation creates more questions than it answers. For example I'd like to know if XM Sirius plans to offer an "iPhone-only" account for, say, $5 per month. If the only way to receive the content will be via a full $13-$17 per month plan, they can count me out. Judging by the lack of an "Internet only" subscription option, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.
XM Sirius needs to realize that creating a cheap "iPhone-only" account option would be a great way to introduce the service to millions of potential new customers and grow subscribers. Trying to get price-sensitive iPhone owners to subscribe to spend $13-$17 per month on a subscription will be like to trying to pick up Jell-O with your hands - most slips through your fingers.
To date, the only way to receive satellite radio streams on the iPhone is to jailbreak it and use uSirius. You can listen to satellite radio on the desktop via the (terrible) Web interface or by using the (excellent) application Starlight.
I canceled my Sirius subscription in January and stand by my posts from November 2008:
The iPhone and the advent of free Web streaming via FStream, Pandora, Last.fm, etc. may be the final nail in the coffin for satellite radio's pay-for-bandwidth business model.
...and from February 2009:
Why would anyone pay $13 a month for music that they can get for free via the Internet?
Will the iPhone kill satellite radio for good or resurrect it from the dead?
Photo: SiriusBuzz
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
I've also cancelled XM Subscription about a month ago.
the tree in the way, and there's no way around
it. I don't have a car and can't drive, so XM
rules them out for me.
In my opinion, satellite radio is outdated,
unless I live in a house and drill holes
through the wall just to put a satellite
antenna outside. But even if I live in a house,
satellite radio is still outdated for me.
So, that's when I switch over to Live365.com
and became a VIP membership for $8/month.
But I don't have an iPhone, so I use a Windows
Mobile smartphone to listen to Live365.
Here are my presets I've chosen:
Capital Jazz Radio
Dancerocker
DIS Radio (Disney Theme Park music)
DT's Club 80s
Florida Megamix Radio
Get The Funk Out
Golden Synthpop
INTERCOT Radio (Disney Theme Park music)
Jazzy Lounge
Mickey's Magic Radio
Mouse House Radio (Disney Theme Park music)
Mouse Radio (Disney Theme Park music)
No-Lines Radio (Magic Kingdom)
Orlando Sky Radio
Park Hopper Radio (Disney Theme Park)
Planet 90
The House of: 1995 (90s Dance-related)
The Party Pit!
MouseWorld Radio 3 (Disney Theme Park)
MouseWorld Radio 2 (Disney Theme Park)
MouseWorld Radio X (Disney Theme Park)
About a couple of those stations are VIP-only.
You might be interested in this if you decide
to go with Live365:
http://tinyurl.com/dfft9p
(If only ZDNet supports URL tags or very long
URLs...)
RE: XM Sirius (finally) developing an iPhone app; too little too late?
uSirius was only available to beta testers and relied on nicemac.com's back-end servers to stream. As of last week, these servers were no longer streaming and Starplayr, StarlightXM, uSirius, and their Windows Moble product no longer function. The developers decided (reason undisclosed, but on the surface certainly seems to be related to possible C&D activity on SiriusXM's part) that it was in their best interests to cease operations. Windows Moble users were offered refunds for their purchases by nicemac.com. Today, the nicemac.com site no longer is available.
IF Sirius/XM was smart, they would purchase the code from nicemac.com for all of the nicemac.com products (or hire the team to code the apps for them) and replace the terrible streaming product they offer today.
I believe there is an Internet-only subscription option @ $12.95 per month today. There was free Sirius streaming (32kb stream only) for satellite subscribers until March 11 when all went to 128kb. If you are a current subscriber to the satellite servce, then the cost is $2.99/mo.
If SiriusXM was to come out with a quality free iPhone product with subscrition pricing in the $1.99/mo range (and included Howard and Martha and all of the things that make SiriusXM unique when compared to the free internet offerings), they might be able to survive. If they price this ttoo high, or come out with a crappy product, there is no way they stand a chance.
Just my opinion......
RE: XM Sirius (finally) developing an iPhone app; too little too late?