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January 07, 2005
iPod Satellite Rumor Continues... XM SkyPod?
Remember when the Sirius / iPod Satellite Rumor first came out? Dreams of combining your own MP3 library with endless streaming satellite radio content on a single device were dancing in our heads. But then came the swarm of speculation and doubt that something like the iPod Satellite just could not be.
But now the Rumor Mill has started up again. Only this time, it's not with Sirius, but rather XM.
First, there's the MacObserver article by Brad Gibson which serves to squelch the rumor, but seems to have fired up the masses because of the questions it raised.
Sure, XM has been in talks with Apple, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything... yet. "We talk with a lot of companies," said Chance Patterson from XM, "That doesn't mean they have committed to building in our chip or our service. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen in the future, but it doesn't mean it's happening sometime soon. We have no imminent announcement."
And sure, XM's new Connect-and-Play proprietary chip and signaling protocol would be perfect to make the iPod XM-Ready, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything... right? "There is no reason why we can't embed the XM 'Connect-and-Play' technology into MP3 players, like the iPod," XM Director of Product Marketing, Phil Whitworth said, "There are no limitations to making XM technology a part of small, digital media products. We're excited about exploring those possibilities with manufacturers and those discussions are on-going."
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. As Mr. Whitworth adds, "It's too early to set a time line on a XM ending up in digital devices, but it's on our radar."
Only, if that's the case, and XM isn't necessarily gung-ho about the whole concept (or more accurately, can't talk about it right now) - then why did they register a new XM Trademark: the SkyPod?
January 7, 2005 02:19 PM
Comments
We'll since they registered it, then that means it wouldn't be a product sold by apple.
also if they we're going to build something that connects to the iPod they would of shown it at CES since the product would of been built by them and not apple
Posted by: kwik at January 7, 2005 05:27 PM
This is just speculation for the future - not for CES. Remember, with the XM Connect-and-Play setup all they would need is a port to be XM-Ready. The antenna (which could be part of the headphones) would be plugged into the port and instantly it could be receiving XM's content.
So, this could come as an entire iPod unit, or as an add-on component to the current iPod.
Far less of a crazy idea than Apple building a whole new satellite-ready unit exclusively.
Posted by: Ryan at January 7, 2005 05:36 PM
If Sirius announced that they would work with Apple, Xm would pander like they always do and claim (whatever company they partnered with) makes a better product. See Howard Stern and Windows codecs for video players. Douchebags
Posted by: stan at January 9, 2005 09:25 AM
