SIRI Intraday thread: Friday May 29

[underway]

It was said that it is difficult... all I am saying is that it is not. That is fine you guys can all believe what you will, I am not going to stop posting what I think is relevant news. You guys can do with it what you will. All I did was drop off a link to a news story.



I am not saying anyone will buy an iPhone just to stream internet music. But 100 million people will have iPhones where that is a nice added feature if they so chose to use it and man oh man do those iPhone geeks love to show off what their iPhone can do.

You are getting defensive for no reason man. Yes, you provided the link, but you also used the word 'afraid' or something to indicate you feel it's a big threat. That's why you are seeing the reaction. but, please note, you are not seeing any nastiness, just other points of view. I respect your position, but I disagree. I think you are minimizing the bandwidth issue and the cost.

[imromo24]

But bandwidth won't be free! ...But, if you were to see a true explosion in internet radio via cell network, the bandwidth would become saturated very quickly. that's why it's not sustainable as a 'free' service. Where's the money going to come from? Yup, cell users and/or the internet radio/video/other companies. Someone's gotta pay.

hmmm....who do we know that owns a chunk of bandwidth...designed for broadcasting audio

great convo!

[underway]

How is it any different then a bulky Sirius or XM receiver? You dont let you Sirius receiver hang around or sit in a cupholder do you? They make elegant cradles for the iPhone just like anything else. Not to mention that some automakers are building in aux jacks and ipod/phone docking stations.

You are absolutely correct about aftermarket sat radio installations. Kinda klunky indeed. No argument there. And, I'm sure that fact dissuades many from buying it too. Same will happen with using cell phones for music in the car....there will be those who think it's annoying to deal with, and there will be laws slamming users for handling the cell while driving. But, again, that's not the main problem....it's bandwidth and cost.

[john]

Charles,you are making it sound like you just buy an I-Phone vfor $200 to $300 and plug it in for free internet streaming.what is the monthly charge to use it for Streaming?

To get the unlimited package it cost 120 a month per phone. Not going to happen for the masses to listen to radio or music or whatever else for that matter. Its all about the masses. at what cost can you get a good deal of them without killing your own company.

[JohnnyIrishXM]

well we are challenging .33 as some small buys are coming in ahead of a big block at .32..probably the retail dippers and popers trying to buy back in before it heads up,instead of down to the .20's..

[SiriusBuzz]

I see a lot of people already going for the unlimited package not to mention there were thousands of horror stories online about 5 figure cell phone bills because people didnt have the unlimited plans. From what I have seen, most real users (not the ones that want to look cool holding an iphone and only use it to make phone calls) already need the unlimited plan without even wanting to stream radio.

Which is why I don't want one... yet.

[JohnnyIrishXM]

To get the unlimited package it cost 120 a month per phone. Not going to happen for the masses to listen to radio or music or whatever else for that matter. Its all about the masses. at what cost can you get a good deal of them without killing your own company.

Thanks John for info.
Well there you go charles,end of discussion,lets see $120 or $14.00,you make the call?

[john]

P.S. Thats the reason I say the Iphone wont help that much in getting that many extra subscribers. Lets face it, people that spend that much money a month for a phone already most likely have SIRIXM. It is kind of like buying a BMW and then saying, no I dont want the extra cost of satellite radio. It doesn't happen to much.

[SiriusBuzz]

Thanks John for info.
Well there you go charles,end of discussion,lets see $120 or $14.00,you make the call?

1. There are more iphone users then sirius xm subscribers so people are clearly willing to pay.

2. $120 vs $14 makes no sense. Can I surf the internet on a sirius receiver? Can I make phone calls with Sirius? The iphone is something people are willing to pay for which happens to be able to stream music. It is not a music streaming device. It can be however, a music sotrage devie which makes it a double threat IMHO.

[underway]

I see a lot of people already going for the unlimited package not to mention there were thousands of horror stories online about 5 figure cell phone bills because people didnt have the unlimited plans. From what I have seen, most real users (not the ones that want to look cool holding an iphone and only use it to make phone calls) already need the unlimited plan without even wanting to stream radio.

Which is why I don't want one... yet.

Right...but that cost is going to be driven higher as more services start gobbling up the bandwidth. That's the beauty of sat rad.....bandwidth is already built out and they are adding satellites....
To those who say the technology is dead, I say BS. It is way more efficient, even taking into account the high cost to procure and launch satellites. Now that S-XM is one company, there won't be the huge bidding war over talent, which will help contain their cost for content. And, the merger synergies will start to drop thru to the P&L. It's all coming together folks.