Sirius XM developing iPhone / iPod touch streaming radio app

My, my -- now isn't this something? Shortly after narrowly avoiding a dastardly collision with bankruptcy, Sirius XM is looking to connect itself with profitable enterprises in an attempt to build market share and regain interest from budget-conscience consumers. Just weeks after hearing that the sat radio company could be preparing a few Sirius / DirecTV bundles, CFO David Frear has now confirmed on a recent earnings call that the outfit is indeed developing an iPhone / iPod touch app. It's interesting to think that a satellite radio firm could be warming to delivering more content via the internet, but it's the apparent diversion from being a standalone offering that has us even more intrigued. It should be interesting to see how the pricing model works with this forthcoming app -- will users be able to get an iPhone subscription only? Will it be tossed in gratis with traditional subscriptions? So many questions, not enough patience.

[Image courtesy of SiriusBuzz]

[P.A.C Man @ Mar 12th 2009 1:32PM]

I'll stick with Pandora, thanks.

[JugoGoya @ Mar 12th 2009 1:38PM]

I'm right with you. I cancelled my XM just last month after getting 3 months free when they screwed everything up with the merger. The whole lineup is messed up now. Ohhhhh, but Pandora, Slacker and Last FM have come to the rescue, and forrrrrrrr frrrrrreeeeeeeeeee. I'll even pay Slacker if I had to for their Slacker Plus version for just 4 bucks. Mannnnn, XM, hit the road jack

[iHenchman#1 @ Mar 12th 2009 1:37PM]

You cant be Sirius!

[sacapuntas @ Mar 12th 2009 1:40PM]

Slacker Radio FTW

[Flashpoint @ Mar 12th 2009 1:43PM]

I usually use my car's satellite radio.

Why is Pandora better than AOL?

[Lee @ Mar 12th 2009 1:44PM]

Pandora on my iPhone is one the the main reasons I gave them when they kept pressing for reasons when I called to cancel last month. However, I could have also explained to the retentions guy how awesome all these free Shoutcast streams are (had I thought about it).

[P.A.C Man @ Mar 12th 2009 1:49PM]

Simplify Media is pretty good too, if you can deal with the limitations.

[xcrunk @ Mar 12th 2009 1:52PM]

Subscription plan only $12.95 a month. HAHAHA....And if you want Stern, it's another $5.95.

Expect Sirius/XM to fumble this one. Those guys have no clue what they're doing.

I would pay $1.99 a month, tops. Anything more than that, and it's just not worth it.

[Rocketboy @ Mar 12th 2009 2:04PM]

At least they don't screw you if your an O&A or Ron & Fez fan.

On the plus side, they're more than happy to screw over O&A to keep King Howie happy.

Because you know, O&A are failures for being on different two 'mediums' (on air FM, and Sirius XM), and one 'fired' them (and almost everyone else at the company, because the station was flipped in order to save money).

[neodorian @ Mar 12th 2009 2:49PM]

Pandora is excellent but even so, why the hell would I pay for the limited low quality streams on XM/Sirius with the thousands of free shoutcast stations that have been broadcasting for years before XM even existed? You have a 3G/Wifi connection in your pocket so why the hell are you still paying for this crap?

[Jack Storm @ Mar 12th 2009 3:56PM]

Apple will probably block this app due to cursin' over the radio/net by howard stern.
Then we will complain.
Then Apple will pass it through.

This seems to be norm now.
I like it.

[Bernie Adams @ Mar 12th 2009 1:33PM]

no one cares about this..Pandora is much better.

[Kid Dynamite @ Mar 12th 2009 1:46PM]

just because YOU don't care about it, doesn't mean no one else does. And how are you so sure that pandora is better? the sirius app hasn't even launched yet, thanks. I do like pandora but gimme a break, it's not the be all end all application....relax! i understand if people don't want to pay for sirius. However many of us who do, will tell you it's an extremely good product. That being said, i get to listen to stern on my iphone, so i'm happy.

[Lee @ Mar 12th 2009 1:55PM]

Kid Dynamite:
Meh. To each their own. I was an XM subscriber since the week they launched in the US until I cancelled late last month. I know services will see increases in cost over time, but the recent hikes coupled with a complete FUBARing of the lineup was the final straw. I haven't really felt like I was getting a good value out of my service fee for some time now, especially with the poor audio quality many stations get. So yeah, I finally bailed. After being with them for like 7 years.

I will say that Sirius's sound quality was infinitely better when I heard it, but I expect all that will change as things merge. Still, I couldn't see myself paying for something that I frequently hate the song selection on when Pandora, Last.FM, and Shoutcast are available - and for free.

[strider_mt2k @ Mar 12th 2009 1:33PM]

Pandora.

[Leindurstit @ Mar 12th 2009 1:33PM]

Is it going to sound like a 32kbps MP3 like every other product their service is played on?

[who? @ Mar 12th 2009 1:35PM]

No way! This is the IPHONE we're talking about here! Expect it to sound more like 24... :P

[a ham sandwich @ Mar 12th 2009 1:45PM]

you know its funny. i was just listening to xmro yesterday and dont pay for "premium" internet streaming even though i've paid the 3 year lifetime subscription fee, and wanted to bleed my ears off. i paid what 200 or 300 bucks for the privilege of listening and it was clearly streaming at 32kbps. it sounded absolutely awful.

[pheer6224 @ Mar 12th 2009 1:34PM]

Instead, could we please get news when somebody isn't developing an iphone app?

[Frankfurter @ Mar 12th 2009 1:56PM]

Or you could simply not read it and not post a reply to it.

[The Fuzz 53 @ Mar 12th 2009 1:36PM]

I doubt it will be tossed in grats, seeing as you now have to pay $3/month for internet access to the service, which used to be free. At least they upgraded it to 128kbps quality from 32 kbps though.

I'm sure all this app will do is access their internet feeds.

[Tony @ Mar 12th 2009 1:38PM]

How quickly we all forget.... they are gonna start charging an extra $2 a month for access to their online feed this month. I think anyone that is paying that new fee should automatically get access to the service on the iPhone/iPod Touch for no additional charge.

[Jason @ Mar 12th 2009 4:38PM]

You have it correct. All you will need is a subscritption to the internet service and you'll be able to use the iphone app. Also the current info is that the app will be free.

[iHenchman#1 @ Mar 12th 2009 1:36PM]

What can`t this phone do i ask ya!

[rtdunham @ Mar 12th 2009 2:24PM]

it's a floorwax! it's a dessert topping!

[Look_Around_You @ Mar 12th 2009 2:41PM]

Copy and paste.

You did ask.

[Frankfurter @ Mar 12th 2009 2:50PM]

My iPhone does copy and paste just fine. Clippy.

[Hamidxa @ Mar 12th 2009 6:38PM]

1. No multitasking (outside of a few nominal system apps needed for basic functionality -- ever wonder why it appears smooth, well no kidding, you are only running 1 app at a time 90% of the time)
2. No turn-by-turn voice navigation system (a poor man's Google maps version is available for the system however)
3. No Flash support inside Safari (SkyFire can do this with ease, and Flash Lite for Opera even works better than Apple's offering)
4. No copy and paste (WinMo handles this elegantly by comparison)
5. No VGA or WVGA screen (instead we are given a low-Res screen leaving much to be desired. come on Apple, at least give us VGA resolution if not WVGA)
6. No way to edit documents (SoftMaker Office for Windows Mobile handles this impeccably well, even Office Mobile suffices to a certain degree)
7. No bluetooth music streaming and/or file transfers -- A2DP (video is out of the question)
8. No voice command (WM devices have featured this for years now and it works brilliantly on them)
9. No video recording (seriously Apple, I mean come on, my grandmother's 5 year old flip phone has this feature)
10. No capability to take handwritten notes (Asian markets that rely on this and many of us Note takers in general that rely on this critical feature are left out in the cold)
11. No user replaceable battery
12. No physical keyboard (no amount of fooling one's self will make up for the lack of a true hardware keyboard)
13. No drag and drop file juggling
14. No tethering (natively)
15. No MMS (natively)
16. No external storage card support (Micro SDHC cards are up to 32 GB now, 8GB is NOT enough these days, especially for a media device, and besides choice of being able to carry additional media is always a plus)
17. No Java
18. No IR port (it's something many take for granted, using their phones as a remote for well...anything just about)
19. No Live TV (that doesnt require you to be connected to an app like Orb on your home PC, which defeats the purpose, why would I want to watch it on a dinky non VGA screen instead of just on my home PC when im at home anyways)
20. No camera flash
21. No camera zoom or Auto Focus
22. Same old, subpar, 2 MP camera for that matter as in the first iteration
23. No radio
24. No front camera
25. Limited video format support
26. Limited picture format support
27. Limited file format support in general
28. Only 128 MB of RAM (Cant run many apps simultaneously -- I mean not that it matters since multitasking is for all intents and purposes out of the question! New WM phones are getting 256+ MB of RAM, with 150+ MB free on bootup)
29. Sluggish performance (perhaps due to the aforementioned 128 MB RAM limitation. why does it take several seconds to open up the contacts list or why does it lag when typing text)
30. A very stringent and almost "closed" development environment (why does Apple have to give its seal of approval for every single app distributed on the phone. This is counterproductive and in many ways even stifles competition. Apple for the longest wouldnt even allow developers to write their own web browsers. SkyFire with flash would otherwise have been an option already for the iPhone, but that would threaten their own Safari browser. Let's not even get into all of the other potentially cool, and not so ethical apps that are simply not even allowed to exist)
31. You cannot try before you buy apps in the store like you can with the standard shareware model.
Demo versions need to be allowed, with an easy "Time's up; want to buy it?" function. It would encourage more serious apps - I think that people are afraid to pay even $5-$10
given the low average price of an iPhone app.

[black @ Mar 12th 2009 7:06PM]

@ Hamidxa

So basically Apple needs an iPhone Pro?

[Hamidxa @ Mar 12th 2009 7:14PM]

black,

Apple will tack on a handful of the aforementioned features one product iteration at a time, milking the ifanboys in 12 month intervals until 5 years down the line all of the said features are finally integrated into one device -- presumably the 7th generation iPhone.

There will be much rejoicing, as iFanboys declare the iPhone 7G as the most innovative device on the market for bringing all of these features to the table (7 years after they've been standardized on other units), and ironically enough will argue apologetically that these features didn't matter before, because they would eat up too much battery life of course, but now that is a thing of the past.

[Charlie @ Mar 13th 2009 2:44AM]

@Hamidxa

Yeah but what phone does all of that plus everything the iPhone does?

There is no perfect device, the iPhone for me has more benefits that any other phone. There is no other phone out there that would convince me to switch.

[kjb434 @ Mar 12th 2009 1:38PM]

More proof that satellite radio is a failure if they have to branch out. Part of the problem is there content is also a failure. Who can listen to same songs in circulation over and over again.

[Brent @ Mar 12th 2009 5:20PM]

Yes, businesses that venture into other markets are failures. This explains the iPod, iPhone, and Hitachi construction equipment.

Thanks for the insight.

[bamboo @ Mar 12th 2009 1:40PM]

How are they going to get approved considering some of the music they play has cuss words? Considering what happened with the twitter app the other day is the reason I am wondering. Is apple going to force them to censor those stations?

[Heath @ Mar 12th 2009 1:42PM]

I still get the internet for free. Maybe because I payed a year in advance before all this went down. Well when... and if... I renew I dont think ill be paying for the internet option. Ill just use pandora.

[Jeremy @ Mar 12th 2009 1:45PM]

How about having access to everything you have at home on your iPhone. If I could pay DirecTV an extra few bucks to access XM on my phone that would be nice. If I could pay an extra $10 a month an access ALL my programming live on my iPhone that would be awesome.

[Brent @ Mar 12th 2009 3:47PM]

You should look into the DishNet Sling equipped receivers.

[JF @ Mar 12th 2009 1:49PM]

Hooray! Guess what - there's been a Sirius App available for Windows Mobile for years. And for an extra couple bucks a month it streams in 128kb.

See here for more info:
http://networkjew.com/2009/02/25/stream-sirius-xbmc-windows-mobile/

[Look_Around_You @ Mar 12th 2009 2:00PM]

3 Reasons why they dont care:

1) Not an Apple app

2) Not an Apple app

3) Not an Apple app

[ChillyCat @ Mar 12th 2009 2:15PM]

JF

The fruity fan boys wouldn't know what to do with a cab file.
1 & 1/2 years of BTLS on my WiMo.

[Joe @ Mar 12th 2009 1:53PM]

Bababooey! Bababooey!

[cbusguy24 @ Mar 12th 2009 2:37PM]

I've been listeing to sirius on my winmo phones for years now.
Fa fa flo Ha

[Scott Greczkowski @ Mar 12th 2009 1:58PM]

Why reinvent the Wheel? They should have just purchased the StarPlyr app from NiceMac which was an EXCELLENT iPhone Sirius XM app. But thanks to the rumored issues between Nicemac and Sirius XM"s lawyers this amazing app will never be released.

So now Sirius XM customers need to wait a few months of an application that should be out now.

[fz02 @ Mar 12th 2009 7:49PM]

EXACTLY! They gave stream_on a hard time in the past and I emailed them complaining because their app was pure shite! They basically sent an email back saying they don't give to two sh*ts...

[bryanapa @ Mar 12th 2009 2:12PM]

Stop talking about developing the app and deliver the damn thing.

[Shank @ Mar 12th 2009 2:16PM]

Guess which cell has the highest streaming rdio usage of all times??yep u guessed it, iPhone. That is sick!! Only been out 1.5 years.insane!! No wonder companys looking for iPhone partnerships.,iPhone to the rescue!!!not storm or pre or instinct or omnia or, u know what I mean,,,more proof revolutionary is here to stay.

[rob @ Mar 12th 2009 2:17PM]

Pandora and Slacker don't work outside US.
Last.fm FTW

[icandigthat @ Mar 12th 2009 2:20PM]

Yawn. Please tell me when there's a seeqpod native or web app that let's you listen to full playlists. Satradio always seemed like an ill-advised last stand of a dying medium.

[Dragotequila @ Mar 12th 2009 2:24PM]

Starplyr already has the app. But Apple didn't approve it. Why would they approve it for Sirius? unless they are giving them kickbacks

[djjoneo @ Mar 12th 2009 2:25PM]

Nokia Internet Radio, Last.FM. They both work wherever I am, including my car and I don't need some bulky antennae to do so. Satellite Radio is a sirius fail.