Apple Should Merge With Sirius
Been lurking for awhile and just came up with my own future idea/speculation. Let me know what you think.
Read on...
Quote:
100 million people now have an iPod. So, how should Apple celebrate? I say that they release something innovative, something that no one expects. We all want wide screen video viewing in the next (6G) iPod and we will probably get it. We all want a touchscreen iPod, and we will probably get that too. Apple will probably also equip the next iPod with flash based memory, giving us more storage and longer battery life. But, what if Apple gave us something that we haven’t really asked for or thought of before. What if Apple signed a deal with Sirius, and gave us the ultimate portable music device.
Here’s my idea for Apple. First, partner up with Sirius. They are about to merge with XM and the combination will soon created the only satellite radio provider. With the two companies together, they currently have about 15 million subscribers and we know that they would be more than eager to get into the iPod market. Next, bring the brilliant design minds of Apple together and integrate a satellite radio receiver into an iPod. Just envision an iPod that has the typical storage room for your own personal music library but then also gives you the ability to listen to satellite radio programming. You could listen to commercial free music, talk radio such as Howard Stern, and every major sports broadcast…right on your iPod. (I’ve even heard that portable satellite radio works on planes)
Moving on. Sirius currently offers two portable radio devices which boast portable radio technology but only 2 GB of personal music storage. We all know that Apple could find a way to fit a satellite radio receiver into an iPod. If they can fit all of those goodies into the iPhone, they can definitely pull this one off.
100 million people now have an iPod. So, how should Apple celebrate? I say that they release something innovative, something that no one expects. We all want wide screen video viewing in the next (6G) iPod and we will probably get it. We all want a touchscreen iPod, and we will probably get that too. Apple will probably also equip the next iPod with flash based memory, giving us more storage and longer battery life. But, what if Apple gave us something that we haven’t really asked for or thought of before. What if Apple signed a deal with Sirius, and gave us the ultimate portable music device.
Here’s my idea for Apple. First, partner up with Sirius. They are about to merge with XM and the combination will soon created the only satellite radio provider. With the two companies together, they currently have about 15 million subscribers and we know that they would be more than eager to get into the iPod market. Next, bring the brilliant design minds of Apple together and integrate a satellite radio receiver into an iPod. Just envision an iPod that has the typical storage room for your own personal music library but then also gives you the ability to listen to satellite radio programming. You could listen to commercial free music, talk radio such as Howard Stern, and every major sports broadcast…right on your iPod. (I’ve even heard that portable satellite radio works on planes)
Moving on. Sirius currently offers two portable radio devices which boast portable radio technology but only 2 GB of personal music storage. We all know that Apple could find a way to fit a satellite radio receiver into an iPod. If they can fit all of those goodies into the iPhone, they can definitely pull this one off.
Read on...
Comments
My suggestion is that you should copy a third of your article. If that first third interests people they'll click your link to read the rest.
Some boards would delete your orginal post as spam because it doesn't contain enough info.
Serious would just be DEAD WEIGHT!
Apple has proven more than ever that people don't want to rent their music, they want to own it. And they want total control.
Fixed
Sweet.
Now isn't Sirius carrying a lot of debt? Perhaps rather than merging Apple should foster combining resources.
The engame here really isn't the music because Apple has the covered. The Golden Goose Egg here is Sirius' Nav Traffic.
Now imagine if Apple brough Multitouch to the car with Sirius Nav Traffic support. Apple would in turn add Sirius capablility to high end iPods (providing it's feasible) and iTunes would have a desktop Sirius option.
Quid Pro Quo.
NO!
Serious would just be DEAD WEIGHT!
Apple has proven more than ever that people don't want to rent their music, they want to own it. And they want total control.
While I disagree with the idea the orignal post presented, I don't agree with this as an adequate reason against.
There are currently somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 million people with Satellite radios right now, and more and more you're seeing them show up in option packages for the auto manufacturers. Satellite radio offers a much better experience than terrestrial, offers parental controls, and also offers regional programming nationwide, which is a HUGE advantage (NFL, MLB, NBA, traffic reports, etc.)
While neither Sirius nor XM are cash cows, it's still an emerging market with tons of potential. But to suggest that satellite radio is doomed to fail because online music rental have failed is a poor argument at best, grossly misinformed at worst.
The fact that Sirius does good business doesn't matter. Apple's not going to buy every tech/media company that does good business. What matters is, will this fit into their larger strategy of digital entertainment? It doesn't. It doesn't get you to use iTunes. It doesn't get you to buy a Mac so you could make you own Sirius programming. It doesn't make thousands of websites put up little "Subscribe via iTunes" badges. This is why they're into podcasting and not satellite radio. AppleTV will never do cable or broadcast television programming for the same reasons.
So, while you think that this may be a good idea, Apple has a 94.25 stock that says you're wrong.
... Let me know what you think.
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I think that the author of your linked article never used Sirius outside the corporate limits of a large city. I am an XM subscriber which has better positioned satellites. Even XM is crap in areas with obstructed views of the sky. Drive under a filling station awning? Lose reception. Go indoors? Lose reception. Rainstorm? Lose reception. Get the idea? Satellite radio works in urban areas because it isn't satellite radio in urban areas. XM and Sirius use terrestrial-based repeaters there. Make no mistake--I love my XM radio. However, here in the boondocks where we actually get our satellite radio from satellites, satellite radio is an imperfect experience.
Here's why ? satellite radio (and TV) are clumsy, interim technologies. Why would Steve Jobs ever get Apple involved in something like that?
Wi-Max is coming ? and it (or something like it) is the future of what we now call broadcasting ? as audio and video will be deleivered everywhere, cars, portables and home, wirelessly, but with nearly infinite choice options.
Like cellphones/broadband, users will have to pay for the bandwidth and likely some of the content.
And frankly, as a subscriber, let me say that Sirius is a badly run company, so Apple would probably not be that interested.
So stop hoping for it. If you think Sirius or another vendor could create some sort of add-on for the iPod, imagine away. But Apple will NOT do it, regardless of how good an idea YOU think it would be.
As I know nobody here in Europe who uses this satellite radio stuff,
Most subscriber satellite-based entertainment has cross-border restrictions.
I can only believe that this is some US-only tech that will go nowhere in the end.
XM and Sirius have been around awhile. Virtually all US-sold General Motors cars and light trucks have XM preinstalled. The technology is helping to kill free broadcast radio.
What's wrong with FM btw??
Several things. Most FM [and AM] radio stations in the US are owned by just three corporations. As a result, free over-the-air stations are heavily formatted with a bland sameness. The other thing is that XM alone has something like 170 different channels. There is music is virtually every genre. Between XM and Sirius, you can get every Major League Baseball game, every NFL football game, every NASCAR auto race, most NCAA football and basketball games, and so much more. OTA radio simply cannot compete with the depth and breadth of programming available on the satellites.
What's wrong with FM btw??
Several things. Most FM [and AM] radio stations in the US are owned by just three corporations. As a result, free over-the-air stations are heavily formatted with a bland sameness. The other thing is that XM alone has something like 170 different channels. There is music is virtually every genre. Between XM and Sirius, you can get every Major League Baseball game, every NFL football game, every NASCAR auto race, most NCAA football and basketball games, and so much more. OTA radio simply cannot compete with the depth and breadth of programming available on the satellites.
Or the coverage. Just to drive to my county seat I have to change radio stations during the drive because no one station has coverage over the complete distance. At that I have no coverage at all for a third of the drive. With XM I can listen to one station for the complete drive.
With the iPod and Podcasting I find that I am choosing between the iPod and XM and XM normally losses. The iPod and XM (and Sirius) are competitors not partners. I don't see any gain for either company to join with the other. Besides satellite reception sucks if you get anywhere close to trees or multistory buildings.
I will bet a large sum of money that Apple will never, ever do any sort of partnership/merger with Sirius or any other satellite radio, planetary radio, or radio-ga-ga company. It's simply completely off the path Apple's taking with digital entertainment.
If you are going to say something like that then give the specifics please. While you may have actual data that supports your decision, it completely missed us.
Any path can be modified , added to, changed, stopped, reoriented, ridiculed, ignored... but it certainly isn't a static in the physical universe.
If you think that out of everything Apple may embark upon in the next few years - handheld computers (in addition to iPhone), multi-touch technology, an iPod-like presence in the living room - they are going to make time for RADIO, you're reading the wrong Mac rumor sites. You might as well be hoping for an Apple fax machine.
As I said, I will bet a large sum of money on no partnership between Apple and any satellite radio provider. Or, let's revisit this thread in, say, five years. See how much Apple changes their path in your direction then.
... You might as well be hoping for an Apple fax machine.
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What! No Apple fax machine? I'm switching to Windows!
As I said, I will bet a large sum of money on no partnership between Apple and any satellite radio provider. Or, let's revisit this thread in, say, five years. See how much Apple changes their path in your direction then.
I agree with you, however, I sure as hell would not put money on that. Apple will do what it needs to do in gain customers. Personally, I like the idea of having satellite radio on my iPod, if it had good reception, this seems to be the only roadblock at the moment.