Improvements For The Sirius XM App
The Sirius XM app is out, and is a very popular download. It ranks among the most frequently downloaded apps not only in the music category, but overall. The app was an instant success despite the absence of Howard Stern, but the popularity has slipped in recent days, falling behind apps such as Paper Toss and a pinball game titled Wild West.
So how can Sirius XM make the app more of a success? In my opinion, they should make it more interactive. This weekend I found myself listening to Boneyard (Sirius 19 and XM 53). Boneyard is doing a countdown of Rush songs. The countdown was formulated by fan emails regarding the popularity Rush songs. I learned of this by cross promotion on Classic Rewind, and found myself tuning into Boneyard to catch songs from what is one of my favorite bands. This got me thinking.
I have always felt that Sirius XM has not done enough to utilize their web presence. With the iPhone app, the company has an opportunity to make the service more interactive for consumers. Why not upgrade the existing app to include some features that allow subscribers to feel more a part of the service?
Song request Function – A simple function that allows users to submit a song request. The subscriber can enter the channel and song. The company could then promote the $3 per month web tier by having a bumper such as ” As requested through the iPhone app”
Contest Function – A simple function that allows users to find all Sirius XM contests in one easy to use place. This function should be part of the app, as well as part of the web service.
“For Profit” Survey Function – A volunteer based function that connects subscribers with the companies that want to advertise to them. The company collects a fee from advertisers, produces a survey, and then gives subscribers points that can be used towards new hardware, or subscription costs. This gives value to advertisers as well as subscribers. Because it is volunteer based, those that do not want to participate do not have to.
Channel Specific Links – Provide links to specific channels. This would allow users to get a description of the channels, and submit comments, and even link to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages dedicated to that channel.
Search Function – This is a function that would allow users to enter an artist name, song name, or talk show host. The app would then tell the user where on Sirius XM that the artist, song or person can be found. An Eagles fan could enter “Eagles”, and be directed to the channels that play the most eagles songs.
New functions such would make Sirius XM far more interactive for fans, a key component to the popularity of services such as Pandora and Slacker which allow user customized stations. The more value consumers see in an app, the more frequently they will use it. Hopefully Sirius XM is considering such upgrades for not only the app, but for their general website as well.
Position: Long Sirius XM, No Position Apple.
I agree with the additional options they could add. A song request would be very nice.
Im really happy with what they have done with the first version of this app though.
It came out really well done.. I Do agree it could use any number of these additions though
Tyler,
Nice article, but what I would really like to know is what happened with the stock on friday. 400+ mil shares traded, 300+ mil shares in the last hour of trading. What is the story?
Stuart . . take a look in the forums at the Intraday thread for Friday/Weekend . . some good discussion (and a little cussing) about the Russell Index rebalancing . . still some unanswered questions though . . retail investors will always be the last to know . . it is how the system is gamed.
could u be a bit more specific?
sorry dropped my i phone
this stock traded afet hrs on friday as low as 30 cents down from 46 cents- only institutional traders could have had those kinds of numbers traded not ordinary investors esp on a late Friday afternoon-without and I mean without any news at all by 11pm est on Friday-It was almost as if some thing caused a massive sell so that shorts coule be covered then the rally back by 7pm to 42 cents
dont know russell guy or any balancing tightrope act he is trying out for-time to pull our heads from the sand road kill- i would not place any blame where it doesnt belong
i am suprised that there isnt more chatter about this- it really undermines the entire story and future of this issue- -now doesnt it?
They should , as quickly as possible, make ALL channels available.
If channels like MLB and Stern need to be at a premium fee, so be it, but get them on there.
The longer Sirius-XM takes to get this done, the worse things become.
This fiasco drives home the point that you never get a second chance at a first impression.
The first impression from the people most interested in purchasing this iPhone App was not good.
There is nothing Sirius-XM can do that will undo the bad impression that they left with potential customers.
The best they can hope for is making ALL content available.
If they can’t or won’t, this app has no reason to exist.
Great ideas. I think ways to get customer feedback is utilizing the mobile hand-held potential, and is critical to make a quality customer-based company.If they don’t have a position at SiriusXM, or a dept. of vision-potetial, customer preferences, and stat analysis, then Sirius is sadly lacking in energy. Someone needs to Steve Job-itize this company more. The time is NOW to get this dialed in.
How about making it available in Canada???
Excellent points. Maybe you should be working in Sirius marketing.
“Maybe you should be working in Sirius marketing.”
Hey Ron – when did Sirius ever market anything? This must be a brand new department just added to the company, because so far they haven’t marketed a goddamn thing!
I agree- any marketing would be nice. i recv emails from the other station about their mj channel over the weekend. but nothing from sirius. only found it because i watch the stock. another lost opportunity.
Good take.
Another realistic request – How about the TuneSelect feature found on some XM receivers? If you could get a notification when a certain artist was playing and tune to it from the pop up. They could probably sell ads on the pop up too.
complaints about this stocks manipulation by large instiutions after hrs to cover and buy back shorts needs to be made-enough of this “russell stover” bs rebalancing wire act
http://www.sec.gov/complaint/c.....ec9570.htm
Thanks for the info. I have sent my complaint in. By that, I mean that I have sent in another complaint. I don’t have much faith in the SEC.
thank you for listening and not demeaning my comment
Whatever was the fate of the SECs’ bid to ‘reinstate’ the uptick rule ?
Wouldn’t this have help with this ?
proton comsat to be launched today via sirius from Russia at 310pm
Jun30 not from the cape=
any thoughts re country chosen for launch?
I do not care what country it is launched from as long as it arrives safely
Isnt this news like the biggest for this company????????????-
I dont know exactly how many they have but this must be 20 percent of total satellites about to be launched-what area will it cover? etc..
Not only from the standpoint of progress and future-This is all they got folks- a very expensive office in manhattan, a boileroom that takes care of accounts and the satellites-the most important part- it isnt HOWARD F’IN STERN!
Embrace this launch dont minimize it and fart on it!
somebody whos smart do some research rather then pissing on issues of whether there will be a r/s and on and on……..
unless you have real facts- about the russia launch have some lunch and just go watch it-( good god they are whiney bunch on alpha)
http://www.ccistream.com
I HATE the Interactivity Timeout function!!!! I have Sirius running in the background, I’m working away, enjoying my Sirius – then WHAM – the feed stops and I have to REBOOT my iphone to get back into Sirius. Sometimes I can just respring the phone, but it is annoying. I have no idea if this is just me, but it seems like a function without a real purpose. The same thing happens when I listen online. “Are you still there? Click here.” What is the reason for this annoying function?
It’s not just you.
The same timeout function has ‘infected’ the Stiletto as well as the regular Internet feed.
The only thing that makes any sense for this is as a bandwidth regulator because the infrastructure can’t handle the existing streaming load.
Watch the stock tumble before the weekend.
Karmazin Contract Extended, With Raise and Massive Options (SIRI)
http://tinyurl.com/mnqjg4
How about a function that allows you to search the internet/check email while listening. I hate the fact that you have to reload the app every time you go somewhere else on the iphone.
NEED CANADIAN ACCESS TO APP!! Pay all this money for a subscription and the best thing to come out for a while is unavailable up here? what the hell. When is the Canadian launch of this? or how can i work around the lock out and get it somehow from the US site…