Will Satellite Radio Become a Consumer Staple? 23 comments
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While on vacation in Las Vegas, I have had a great time, taken in some shows and spent time with my family. I have also been able to keep up with what is happening in the news because of my Blackberry (RIMM). Only a decade ago, a cell phone was not standard equipment for every human aged 12 and up. Now, we are so technologically tethered, that it has become difficult to imagine life without our gadgets.
I took the opportunity Sunday to pick up the weekend edition of USA Today (GCI). On the front page was an interesting survey that shows that even in tough times that people seem to feel that their gadgets are even more important now than ever before.
in 2006 the Pew Research Center conducted a survey of items that people felt were a necessity. The same survey was conducted a couple of weeks back, and the results were very interesting. It would appear that items that people categorize as necessities has shifted substantially. Microwaves are out, and iPods are in. In these poor economic times who would have imagined that this would be the case?
In 2006 68% called a microwave a necessity. Now that number is 47%!
In 2006 television was at 64%. Today it is at 52%
Air conditioning lost 16 points, dishwashers lost 14, and clothes dryers lost 17! Times are perceived as bad, so perhaps these numbers are a sign of people cutting back…But then again, look at some other items, and you may begin to question priorities. Flat screen televisions gained three points. High speed Internet gained 2. iPods gained 1 point, and cell phones remained flat.
What we are seeing here is a shift in the thinking of consumers. Does this mean that satellite radio, considered a luxury by many, actually has a chance of being considered a necessity? Well, there is no evidence from this survey to indicate that SDARS is any more or less important to people. It simply was not among the data entered. However, there is a clear shift in what people are considering a necessity today, and electronic gadgets seem to be stable.
This survey alone does not point to anything specific with regard to SDARS. In fact, the subscriber numbers in SDARS have not been very good over the past several months, and that trend is not likely to reverse when Q1 numbers are reported. I feel it would be a stretch to categorize SDARS as a must have item, but it was the flat panel television and iPod data that made me stop and ponder. Many readers here are also subscribers, and many have stated that they would never return to terrestrial radio. I myself feel that I will always have a subscription. iPod has reached a critical mass. Satellite simply is not to that point yet, and this is precisely why they need to do the little things that will keep existing subscribers and bring in new ones. In this economy a task such as this is challenging at best, but if SDARS is to grow and get to profits, it needs to happen.
There does exist a core group of subscribers that are “lifers” when it comes to SDARS. Given the fact that it has been demonstrated that an iPod can become a necessity to many gives SDARS a bit of hope that it will be able to ride through the tough times, and could perhaps do very well when the perception of the economy improves.
We are living in interesting times. I guess there are people out there that would be happy to hang clothes on racks in their kitchen as long as they can do it listening to their iPod and watching a flat screen television.
Disclosure: Long SIRI
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On Apr 26 07:47 PM JamesApple wrote:
> iPhone App Store currently have 35000 applications. These applications
> enable the iPhone users to organize the things in their lives into
> 2 classes of events: the expected, and the exceptions; and their
> applications would handle them accordingly with control in the hands
> of the iPhone users.
>
> Blackberry users have no such applications. These people must continue
> to use the old way of using email to read their messages, and the
> clunky Blackberry to browse old mobile internet sites only. Blackberry
> is fit for old old old outdated users.
>
> iPhone is designed for applications for state-of-the-art software
> solutions. Think of the industrial devices (like the bomb-disarming
> robots, the robot carmakers, the DOWS stock trading system), that's
> the principle behind the iPhone, not the design for another eMail
> enabled cellphone. iPhone is not tied to something like the Rim BES
> eMail server. iPhone is fully capable of network based, peer to peer
> communication, standalone application, bluetooth, and any upcoming
> technologies because iPhone runs on top of the most open, robust,
> capable, advanced Operating System in the world.....Unix.
>
> iPhone is only a few applications away from turning all the products
> into yesterday's artifacts and the world is eagerly awaiting. This
> is not just a changing of the game, this is a changing of our times.
I think of the MP3 players as a passive listen-only expression of freedom. The Satellite radio can be a interactive and expanded form of Twitter perhaps? Given the power of iPhone applications the Satellite radio can deliver all the benefits of radio stations without their restrictions, this is indeed intoxicating.
SATRAD needs to embrace broadband, enable highly compressed video data codex, and consider GPS, traffic, NAV, etc.. for the mobile world.
On Apr 26 10:37 PM Vincent Buckhorse wrote:
> SATRAD is a passing (perhaps passed) trend that is working to catch
> up to it's relevance of yesterday. While the allure of "unrestricted"
> radio and commercial free music sounds great, it's hanging on the
> edge of a cliff that the FCC is just waiting to push them off of.
> From a Wall St perspective, the bottoming if the auto industry and
> the introduction of the coming iPhone app gives SATRAD huge upside...
> but how long can that last? I agree that the infrastructure of the
> current satellites needs to be leveraged better, people will only
> pay so much for so long to listen to Howard Stern burp and fart while
> watching a stripper get naked. The NFL and NHL exclusive contracts
> will eventually end and be replaced by cheaper, better, and possibly
> free technologies.
>
> SATRAD needs to embrace broadband, enable highly compressed video
> data codex, and consider GPS, traffic, NAV, etc.. for the mobile
> world.
Vincent
GPS, traffic, Nav...where the hell have you been. SiriusXM has GPS/NAV in all of the highend autos...weather for marine/aviation!!!
Seeking Alpha moderator- WTF are you doing...You censored us for not staying on topic...and now look at the bs being posted here. Last time I visit this POS!
On Apr 26 10:39 PM Cetin Hakimoglu wrote:
> NO it won't. Siri is doomed. 10 cents soon.
The cost of the receivers should be much lower. Not everyone is willing to spend $200 to $700 for a radio, and not everyone buys a new car with a satellite receiver.
The ads are horrible and often strike me as misleading. That XM can't get legitimate advertisers says a lot about its potential and its chances of surviving.
Here's a problem for SIRI: The new smart phones allow us to check markets and the news via WSJ and Bloomberg aps when and where we like. The Weather Channel ap makes watching the local TV news and listening to the radio unnecessary. Who needs to listen to FM radio when you have an iPod or iPhone in your pocket?
As noted above, the iPhone and iPod are big hurdles for SIRI, I think.
Yet, since I don't have an iPod anymore and don't listen to music on my iPhone, I would hate to lose the XM service.
Dudes. Talking about Pandora etc is all fine and dandy if you have RF signals strong enough from some base stations. XM guys can be running away from some grizzlies in the high mountains where only SATRAD can reach.
People like variety and Sirius XM is too great a medium to ignore.
iPod does not make one feel connected other than, "I have an iPod too, look at me!" Internet Radio will have to pay like everyone else for content eventually. Sirius XM is real-time info, uncensored!
Anyone that has anything to do isn't reading your rambling.
Billy Bob
Nice article!
Long SiriusXM
I think thats called being ponned...
If im not mistaken
Rocket science? Your right, its not rocket science. Positive cash flow means you can now start to pay AHEAD of your bills. Once auto sales recover(or are you predicting they never will) they will be profitable. In fact, very profitable. Everytime they lauch a satellite, they save 300 million dollars in synergies. 2 for 1 now, all sats can relay both signals now. Expansion...
Puerto Rico, Cuba, Europe...
Damn, Im embarrassing you so bad, should I stop, or do you want more?
How about a proven winner on your board? Does that impress you. How about an owner in Malone who does not gut companies, or buy things he doesnt think can make money. Are you saying your smarter than a billionaire CEO? Wow, you are not only cocky, your ignorant too. Go write you little economy articles, and leave the SiriusXM analysis to those who know it. Who said Pandora? Slacker? Inferior delivery, and inferior product. About as much competition as terrestrial radio is. Zero. People never thought theyd pay for TV, well in 5 years, everyone will wonder why they waited so long to pay for radio. OOOO, I know your mistake. Where ever you meant to type SATRD you meant to type terrestrial radio. Ok, now your post makes more sense.
Do you smell that?