Sirius XM iPhone App: Still Room for Improvement

The Sirius XM (SIRI) 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, it should be made 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 its 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?

• A 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”.
• A 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.
• A “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.
• A 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 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 like these 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 its general website as well.

Disclosure: Long Sirius XM, No Position Apple

Comments

[R A F:]

Right on, Tyler. It's all about gaining footholds on major and expanding platforms - such as the huge potential for the iPhone, wireless networks and appliances, OEM channels, etc. - and then constantly upgrading and revising to make the apps increasingly more functionable and necessary to the the user. SIRI has fertile ground to work with here and your suggestions, above, fit right into this strategy. Let's hope the management of Sirius XM recognizes this is exactly the progression of upgrades that has propelled Apple and Microsoft to the leadership positions they enjoy and that the SIRI board insists on similar revisions and upgrades into the future. If so - there is great upside potential for SIRI in the wake of the recent launch of the iPhone and the shift of consumers to ever greater reliance on wireless, hand held devices. This is the basic fundamental story propelling SIRI's bottoming action over the last six months and the entire technical formation of the stock is gaining technical strength, as a result. Confirmation of a technically strong framework should be seen over the near to intermediate term by the ability of pullbacks to be contained by underlying support and subsequent recoveries to push to sequentially higher levels of resistance. The current technical framework projects potential toward $1.00+ over the next six months to one year. Stay the course.

Jun 29 07:06 AM

[Content seeker:]

To my dismay, I visited an apple store in the Raceway Freehold Mall in Freehold, NJ. I met with the manager, Dan, and he had no clue that Sirius/XM app was available on the iPhone. I am taken back that a manager of an Apple high profile store has no clue about this app, it has been announced over a week, and the store is not even promoting it. No advertisements at all appear in the store. My god, are the people at Apple and Sirius/Xm are brain dead. I sit back and wonder how the hell Apple became a success and if Sirius/Xm ever will be. You would think that they would have the marketing strategy "COMPLETELY" worked out by now. Wake up Mr. Jobs and Karmazin, dust off your cob webs and start dotting the i's and crossing your t's. I hope I am wrong and you have planned a thorough marketing strategy, and if you have this manager should be canned. Yes his name is Dan! If I am wrong, than I guess you won't be firing yourself, but mistakes like this one, which is large should not be made and someone needs to be accountable for this missed opportunity. Here's a novel idea that you might want to consider. Why don't you take advantage of places like the Jersey Shore which has over 100 miles of beach shore line? Hire some banner planes and fly them over the coast line where you can expose news such as Sirius/XM on apple to about 1,000,000 eye watching people a day. That's just New Jersey, places such as Florida and California might work as well. Possibly North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, etc. Wake up, drink some coffee and start brain storming. I wonder how folks such as your self made. Must have been a lot of luck involved.
I have read so many ideas such as the ones that Tyler has just noted and can not believe that these need to be pointed out. You are fortunate that you have such a product that breeds these possibilities. I wonder if anyone at Sirius/XM or Apple even takes the time to read blog sites such as Seeking Alpha. If they don't they should and by what has been delivered so far, it appears that they don't. They just don't get as "Marvin Fuchs" would proclaim.

Jun 29 07:50 AM

[Neal Barkett:]

content seeker, that doesn't surprise me at all. When I go into a Best Buy or a Circiut City(although they are now defunct) I would always question the sales people in the audio dept. about Sat Rad. and I would say that 75% of them new very little about the product. Who do you blame? If I was part of the marketing dept. of Sirius Xm I would give some type of incentive & training to these people (at least give some incentive for the sales people to have it installed in their own vehicles). These people are on the front lines with the potential customers as far as the customers perception they are the Sirius Xm person. They can direct you to the product and all it has to offer but they can also be the people to lose the opportunity to make the sell due to a lack of knowledge. It's basis sales 101 to know your product if your going to be able to sell it. This is a complex product do to it's clethera of offerings and it does require some form of training to sell it. This is true not just in the after market but also in the new & used car market. Hear say seems to be the market strategy of choice. This is a sad choice for such a high quality low cost product.

Jun 29 08:14 AM

[Jerrold Wil...:]

Ok, the iphone app is out...What about the millions that have blackberry and windows smartphones? I have had xmradio for about 7 years and I do not have an iphone and don't care to get one. I am happy with my sprint service. When is the company going to make an app for my phone? Pandora and others make apps for all phones quickly, why can't sirius xm? Once this is done, the company can start to advertise on mass media once again because people can try the service without having to pay anything up front for equipment and get a free 7 day trial.
An opportunity was missed with the Michael Jackson death. Sirius XM has a 24 hour tribute channel that fans would've loved.. Everyone buying MJ albums after his deth, would people have used the service for 24 hour MJ channel this past weekend? You bet!! Time is being wasted by not having this service available to all with smartphones....

Jun 29 08:51 AM

[Content seeker:]

Yes the MJ tribute was a big missed opportunity by Sirius/XM. The sad thing is that they should be taking advantage of all the good ideas that are on these blog sites and capitalize on them. It's free ..... they do not even have to pay millions to outside consultant companies for these ideas. I am appalled by their seemingly lack of common sense. I love this product and wish you would reach out to some of us for " HELP". It's clear that they need it.

And I am not a basher of their product ... just their marketing strategy and content decisons at times.

MLB IS A MUST! THIS IS SO BIG ... BIGGER THAN STERN ... MUCH BIGGER.

AND MLB NEEDS SIRIUS/xm TOO, since more and more kids are not following the sport as they did in the past and they of course are the life blood of the their product in the future.

Jun 29 12:34 PM

[Artaxerxes:]

I'd like to see the app extended to other cell platforms besides Apple's. For example, the new Palm Pre, which has better APP multi-tasking than the iPhone, could use this Sirius connectivity. Or is Sirius signed-up to helping Apple cut out everyone else and maintain a monopoly? Hmmmm.....?

Jun 29 12:39 PM

[Jerrold Wil...:]

i really hope that their is no exclusive deal with apple and sirius xm. If apple were promoting sirius xm, then it would be ok. Apple treats sirius xm as just another one of their thousands of 3rd party apps. Apple doesnt care if people use sirius xm or Pandora or just listen to mp3's. Sirius XM has been advertising to only existing customers that already have the service. They advertise with short promos by personalities on sirius xm chanels. I really don't see how this will help the company grow. It will have some subscribers pay the additional $3.00, but it will also annoy some for being nickeled and dimed. The companies strategy is forget about getting new customers, let's get more money from those that already pay. I love the service and pay the extra fee with no complaint, others may cancel because this is the second of 3 price increases since the merger. They raised the multi radio price, they now charge for internet streaming, and they will start to add a fee for music royalties. Sirius XM needs to have these personalities make sirius xm "cool" for people. Oprah, Eminem, etcl....should be mentionining the service to their fans. All they have to do is mention they have shows on the radio and their millions of fans will give it a try. They can try, hopefully on their smartphones this summer.

Jun 30 06:26 AM