 RAIN 6/11: Opportunities abound for radio on mobile platform ·Jun 11, 11:37 AM SMARTPHONE SALES PROJECTED TO INCREASE AS DEVICES BECOME “NECESSITY” FOR USERSDespite a struggling economy and decreasing overall cell phone sales, smartphone sales are projected to increase 25% this year. Sales for smartphones, like the iPhone or new Palm Pre, are expected to rise because consumers are depending on the devices more and more for work, life and to generally always be connected.
“Smartphones are seen as essential to be productive in a mobile society,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer at AT&T’s wireless division, and The New York Times has a few examples to back him up (here). In one such case, a laid-off worker purchased an iPhone to replace the computer she had to return to her former company, and to aid in her job search. Others use the devices for work, describing it as a “necessity” or even “an appendage.” This all puts Internet radio — which has dozens of applications for smartphone operating systems — in an excellent position to bring in more listeners. SAT RADIO BLOGGER SAYS PANDORA SCHOOLING SIRIUS ON MOBILEWhile waiting for Sirius XM to launch their iPhone application, satellite radio blog Sirius Buzz couldn’t help but notice that Pandora has apps for the iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile devices and now even the days-old Palm Pre. “The fact that the Pandora iPhone application was the most downloaded application of the entire year should be sounding off alarms in the heads of the movers and shakers at Sirius XM,” they write (here).
“What more do the people at Sirius XM need to see and how long will their loyal subscribers have to wait before they realize the importance of this new delivery system, which their fans won’t stop begging for and at the same time can put their content into the ears of millions of untapped consumers?” CBS RADIO, YAHOO STREAMS COMBINE IN Y! MUSIC iPHONE APPThe new Y! Music application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch devices includes not only Yahoo! Music radio streams, but also CBS Radio’s stations. That makes for a couple hundred streams to choose from. The app organizes them all by genre and locations (including a “Near Me” function). Users can also skip up to 6 tracks an hour in some streams. The Y! Music application is available for free in Apple’s App Store. For more, read Yahoo’s Music Blog here.
LANE: NO FM IN NEW iPHONE NO SURPRISEWhile Microsoft’s new Zune HD comes packed with HD Radio, Apple’s updated iPhone line has no FM tuner and industry analyst Jennifer Lane isn’t surprised. “Apple is all about the Internet. They sell music via the Internet, and watched a streaming radio app (Pandora) reach the top position as the most popular iPhone app last year,” she writes. “Apple isn’t about to put an FM tuner on the iPhone, HD Radio isn’t about to take off, and Internet radio is where it’s at. Broadcasters that can focus on that fact are the ones that will flourish.” Read Lane’s full thoughts at her Audio4Cast blog here.
SLACKER UPDATES BLACKBERRY APP, UPS SOUND QUALITYSlacker has updated its Blackberry application to version 2.0, an update that includes sound quality and performance improvements. The application now streams music in high-fidelity stereo and transitions between tracks almost instantaneously.BELKIN iPHONE FM TUNER USES GPS TO DETERMINE BEST FREQUENCYAs anyone who broadcasts their iPhone’s music content to a car stereo through FM knows, it can be a pain to find a frequency that lets your music come through loud and clear. Belkin is trying to take the headache out of the process with a new FM tuner for iPhones that uses the phone’s GPS data to determine the best FM frequency for your location. It even can be controlled by a downloadable iPhone app, streamlining the process even more. Pretty nifty, but the device will set you back $80. Look for it in fall. For more, check out Engadget’s coverage here.
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CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
