Introducing the BlackBerry Remote Stereo Gateway, hot off the presses at the FCC, coming to an executive's office sometime in the future.

It uses Bluetooth to enable a wireless transmission of music from your BlackBerry device to your home or portable stereo. Simply pair your BlackBerry to the Gateway, and plug the Gateway into your stereo (via a 3.5mm line-in or RCA aux input).

Magically all your music tunes get streamed to the speakers of your choice. Think of it like a dock for your phone, only without the wires.

What was it that the NAB used to define satellite radio? Oh right, "nationwide, multi-channel, audio programming." So... what would you call streaming audio over mobile devices?

[via Gizmodo]

Amazon announced today that they will buy digital audio book provider Audible.com for $300 million.

Audible has been partnered with XM for several years now, from including Audible support in the Helix/Inno, to the XM Audible Store, to various co-sponsored events and XM's Sonic Theater (ch 163) featuring Audible content. But I'm assuming none of that will change, since there's no reason for it to.

One interesting thing to think about is Amazon's increasingly aggressive foray into digital media distribution.

Not only do they have a massive DRM-free digital music service, but now they have the leading spoken-word provider as well.

And with the Amazon Kindle (pictured above), users can access and download all of that content over a built-in high-speed wireless EVDO connection... for free.

While Kindle (which Amazon is struggling to keep up with the demand of) doesn't necessarily market itself as a music player - it's primarily an eBook reader - but the capability is currently there. And there could be more to come.

"There are a number of experimental features. We have made them accessible so customers can tell us if we should work on them and make them part of the product," said CEO Jeff Bezos on the earnings call.

It's nothing, yet, but it sure makes you go "hmm."

[ZDNet, TechCrunch]

Adding to the list of merger-related activity at the FCC recently, iBiquity Digital Corporation held yet another meeting with members of the Commission earlier this week, according to a recent FCC filing.

iBiquity CEO Robert Struble and counsel met with Commission Jonathan Adelstein and Rudy Brioché of Commissioner Adelstein’s office. Their discussion was similar to previous meetings in that iBiquity expressed "concern" over competitive implications should the merger be approved.

Speaking of implications. iBiquity implies quite a bit at these meetings. From the filing:

"iBiquity raised concerns about exclusive arrangements between XM and Sirius and automobile manufacturers that could serve as a barrier to iBiquity’s ability to sell HD Radio receivers to end users. iBiquity also expressed concern that satellite radio companies may have used subsidies and incentives to discourage proliferation of HD Radio products. iBiquity discussed its concern that the merger has the potential to exacerbate these problems."

Interesting, so now that sluggish growth we're hearing about is XM and Sirius' fault? Seriously? Remember, some studies predicted that 1.5 million HD Radio units would be sold in 2007 (and that was reduced from 2.1 million), while other research firms, like Barrington Research, had hoped for a more conservative 1 million units.

"Our impression is that the actual unit sell-through was only about half that total," said Barrington Research analyst Jim Goss. That's roughly 500,000 units for the entire year if your math is rusty.

So the burden of that failure is now being placed on satellite radio's mystical "incentives" that somehow "discouraged" the sale of HD Radios. That is, despite HD Radio being all over CES this year, and being included in new tabletop radios that forgo XM in favor of iTunes Tagging support. Yeah, I can definitely see proof of iBiquity's accusations there.

iBiquity's solution to these "concerns" of course hasn't changed since last month - they just want the government to require that HD Radio technology be included in every satellite radio sold.

Oh, and Goss also added that iBiquity is getting $5-$6 for every HD Radio receiver sold. So, you know, requiring that HD Radio technology be included in every Sirius and XM unit sold has absolutely nothing to do with the interests of iBiquity. Nah... it's all "to insure a level competitive playing field," right?

[FCC Filing (PDF), Radio Ink]

UPDATE: Looks like iBiquity met with Commissioner Michael Copps and Rich Chessen of Commissioner Copps’ office as well. [FCC Filing (PDF)]

Last.fm has just undergone an incredible update that awards it the "World's Best Jukebox" moniker (self-awarded, of course).

As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website.

The service also is boasting "the most complete, licensed music catalog" in the world with support from The Big Four music labels as well as over 150,000 indie labels. It's all immediately available on demand without logging in.

Gizmodo calls the updated version "internet radio on 'roids, basically."

The free (banner ad-supported) service has the limitation of only allowing the same track to be played 3-times. But Last.fm will soon be announcing a subscription service that will allow for unlimited plays as well as "some other useful things."

"We’re also working on bringing full-length tracks to the desktop client and beyond," said the company. It's that "beyond" part that I think folks should keep an eye on, as Last.fm could very well do what Slacker is doing.

Last.fm was acquired by CBS for $280 million in cash in May 2007.

[Last.fm Blog via Gizmodo]

Proving that some research firms actually know what they're talking about, Apple reported that holiday unit sales of the iPod rose marginally when compared to the same period the year prior.

Apple iPod holiday-quarter shipments came in at 22.1 million units - that's up about 5 percent from a year earlier. But that came in shy of forecasts by three analysts that Reuters tracks (which ranged from 22.4 million to 25 million). Sales of the iPhone reached 2.3 million, in line with most Wall Street estimates.

Revenue on the other hand is a different matter.

Apple said iPod revenue rose 17% from a year earlier - that's the strongest growth in a year, according to Apple execs. Much of this growth in revenue can be attributed to the debut of the $400 iPod Touch model which lifted average selling prices.

"This was the most expensive iPod we've introduced in some time," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. Cupertino thinks the iPod Touch belongs in a separate category other than a portable music player, saying the iPod Touch has a chance to "become the first mainstream mobile Wi-Fi platform."

Of course, as Silicon Alley Insider points out, revenue is where it counts and in that case the iPhone is really what Apple wants to focus on. "With revenue coming from both phone sales and kickbacks from carriers, iPhone customers are a lot more valuable to Apple than iPod customers," writes SAI. "So while iPod growth slows, it looks like Apple's cellphone division will be able to drive gadget sales growth."

And with iPhone (and WiFi-enabled iPod Touch) leading the way for Apple, how long do you think it will take for over-the-air capabilities to become a priority?

[via Reuters]

Only three weeks into the new year, and members of the FCC have met various parties involving the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. on eight separate occurrences.

Could this (finally) be a sign that we'll have a decision on the merger soon? Here's a listing of some of the reported activity coming from the Commission:

• January 3, 2008: The CEO of US Electronics (along with counsel) met with Comissioner Copps and his advisor, Rick Chessen. [Link (PDF)]
• January 4, 2008: Georgetown Partners, TSG Capital Group, and King & Spalding LLP met with Michelle Carey, senior legal advisor to Chairman Martin. [Link (PDF)]
• January 7, 2008: Chester C. Davenport, Managing Director of Georgetown Partners met with Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein [Link (PDF)]
• January 7, 2008: Georgetown Partners on the same day also met with Commissioner Michael Copps. [Link (PDF)]
• January 9, 2008: Georgetown Partners and the Reverend Jesse Jackson met with Chairman Kevin Martin [Link (PDF)]
• January 11, 2008: XM and Sirius, along with CRA International, met with representatives from the FCC to discuss the findings of the CRA study which determined that Satellite Radio and Terrestrial Radio are demand substitutes. [Link (PDF)]
• January 14, 2008: Once again Chester Davenport of Georgetown Partners, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Kimberly Marcus (also of the Rainbow PUSH coalition) met with Chairman Kevin Martin, Daniel Gonzalez and Catherine Bohigian. On the same day in a separate meeting: Davenport, Rev. Jackson and Ms. Marcus met with Commissioner Michael Copps, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, Rick Chessen and Rudy Brioché. And in yet another meeting Davenport, Jackson, and Marcus met with Commissioner Robert McDowell. [Link (PDF)]
• January 15, 2008: iBiquity CEO Robert Struble met with Commissioner Robert McDowell as well as Angela Giancarlo and Cristina Chou Pauze of Commissioner McDowell's office. [Link (PDF)]

Last month, RBC Capital analyst David Bank predicted that the FCC's decision would likely stretch to February of this year.

"We believe XMSR/SIRI management served up the necessary sacrificial lamb(s) by offering ala carte pricing and openness to variety of other conduct/behavioral conditions," wrote Bank. "However, our sources indicate FCC is likely 1-2 months away from fully fleshing out conditionality such as ala carte pricing, interoperability of radios, unused channel availability to 3rd parties, indecency standards and local content restrictions."

From the looks of these recent meetings, it appears that the FCC is working through those conditionalities right now.

You can't make this stuff up. Today at MacWorld 2008, Steve Jobs announced that Apple has sold 4 million iPhones to date.

Today marks the 200th day that the iPhone first went on sale (to put that in perspective, it's been 333 days since the XM and Sirius merger was announced).

That's an average of 20,000 iPhones sold every day.

In its first quarter of shipping, the iPhone brought in a 19% marketshare of smartphones. Combining Palm, Motorola and Nokia together, "We equaled all them in the first 90 days..." said Jobs.

Couple that with the fact that Apple sold 2 million songs on Christmas Day (that's in one day), and last week the company sold its 4 billionth iTunes track. That billion with a capital B. Unreal.

Now ponder this:
Steve Jobs admitted that they were disappointed with the number of movies sold on iTunes (a meager 7 million movies), so Apple has decided to get into the movie rental business. Can't sell them? Stream them instead. Now, can you imagine what would happen if iTunes music sales began to slow, and Apple decided to get into the radio business?

Start imagining, because it's inevitable.

[Engadget]

FlyTunes, unveiled recently at CES, is an Internet Radio service that touts itself as being "better" than satellite radio.

The free service - which isn't available until January 21st - claims it will make it easy to play internet radio on your iPhone or other cellular/wifi-enabled device.

FlyTunes works much like Slacker does, in that it pre-caches the songs on the device so that you can listen uninterrupted even in areas where you have no signal. By default, it saves 30 minutes worth of music on your iPhone, and syncs up with additional music when it sense a good wireless connection. If you know you're going to need more time (e.g., a 4-hour plane ride), FlyTunes can pre-cache as much music as you want on the device.

The service acts as a middle-man to the thousands of Internet Radio stations already in existence. What it instead does is deliver these stations in a simplified interface. FlyTunes then creates its own channels, based on your preferences, that you can tag as a "favorite" tune or that you "hate" it. Again, similar to Slacker, only without the dedicated device.

As a result, FlyTunes is claiming it has features that satellite radio could never have, and even lists itself as being "better" than satellite radio.

Watch the video below of FlyTunes in action:

[via TechCrunch]

Ford SYNC is continuing to expand its feature-list, as well as its penetration rate, adding a new "911 Assist" functionality and regular Vehicle Health Reports later this year.

At CES, Bill Gates announced that Ford will expand SYNC to nearly all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles by the end of the year. Currently, it's only available on 12 models.

But that's not really the big news. The big news is that Ford SYNC is getting a massive update later this year to include "911 Assist" functionality. All the new models, as well as current SYNC-enabled models on the road, will get this expanded functionality (since the SYNC system can download software updates).

This new "911 Assist" feature makes SYNC compete not only with satellite radio, but also with other telematics systems like GM's OnStar. The big difference being: there's no additional monthly fee.

Instead of setting up a separate cellular connection, Ford SYNC simply pairs itself with your current cellphone (which it's designed to happen every time you enter the vehicle). Upon airbag deployment, the system will wait 10 seconds before it automatically calls the local 911 emergency operator. A pre-recorded message will then play when the call is answered, and occupants in the vehicle will be able to communicate directly with the 911 operator.

Later this year, SYNC will offer a Vehicle Health Report functionality as well. Again, using your current cellphone, SYNC will gather data from the vehicle's control modules and send that information to Ford via an 800-number. The whole process, which in some vehicles will include a routine check of more than two dozen systems, takes a matter of minutes.

You can then receive these health reports regularly either by email or by text-message alerts. And it's all free.

It's interesting to see that Ford/Microsoft are accepting the fact that users all have their own devices that do the same thing as competing systems in the car. Rather than embedding a harddrive in the car (e.g., MyGig), SYNC uses your iPod/MP3 player. Rather than embedding a cellular connection (e.g., OnStar), SYNC uses your current cellphone.

They're not focusing on convergence, they're focusing on integration. And that's important, because it future-proofs Ford for whatever may come.

Further supporting data released by NPD recently, consumer electronics industry consulting firm iSuppi Corp. is expecting that sales of digital music players will slow sharply over the next five years.

But that doesn't mean that consumers aren't listening anymore. They're just shifting devices.

iSuppli estimates that revenues from MP3 players (including iPods) grew 8 percent worldwide in 2007 to $19.5 billion, up from $18 billion in 2006. But the firm expects that growth will slow to just 3.5 percent in 2008 to $20.2 billion. Sales growth is forecast to plateau to $20.7 billion by 2011.

The slowdown over the next 24 months is due to the "long-term threat" from music-capable cellphones, says iSuppli analyst Chris Crotty.

Don't feel bad for Cupertino though. The mounting competition from music-capable phones - which, according to NPD analyst Ross Rubin, now outnumber portable music/video players - means that Apple is well positioned for the future with its iPhone. They anticipated this change in consumer behavior, and likely are a leading catalyst for this shift.

As users become more accustomed to using their cellphones as entertainment devices - and as high-speed wireless networks continue to build out nationwide - consumers will expect more in terms of downloading and streaming functionality. And what makes you think that Apple doesn't anticipate that as well?

[New York Post]
(Side note: Is the guy in that photo working the Blue Steel pose?)