XM Radio is jumping on the wireless bandwagon, and is trying to negotiate with wireless carriers to deliever its satellite radio service to handsets. “They are clearly looking for content to support their platform and we are a logical place for them to go,” XM CEO Hugh Panero told Reuters in an interview. Carlo says, “Just porting the existing streaming service to mobile and charging a premium for it, simply because it is mobile, doesn’t stand a great chance.”
This seems odd.
Does XM really intend to pay a fee to carriers? hmm.
The lead time to integrate this service in current cellphones would be ~1yr.
Why doesn’t XM just create a SDIO card? Then I don’t have to fool with the carrier at all.
You can never trust anything these execs say because its all a huge smokescreen. The real issue here, and the reason for the talks, is that XM needs the carriers assistance (and the mfg’s) to implement its own DRM.
Anybody remember the USB/PCI card fiasco, which begat the sat-radio timeshifting app?
What we need is another Ronald Regan to say, “Carriers! Tear down your walled gardens.”
Because the only thing subscribers have to fear, are the carriers.
charlie,
i could not agree more. what we are seeing is people jumping on to the bandwagon – wireless is hot, and can result in a share price pop, well lets do it. it is nothing more than that right now.
The lead time to integrate this in a cellphone from a technical standpoint might only be a year, but it would take longer to get it on the streets. Look at Wifi enabled phones: Prototypes have been available forever. Public (geek) interest is high. There is even a carrier, T-Mobile USA, that has no 3G play to canabalize. Yet, the phones have yet to hit the street. BTW, I saw the Ben-Q, but the damn battery was dead . . . argh! Keypad seemed too small for adult usage, but overall formfactor was decent.