HD Radio has finally figured out a useful offering. It has nothing to do with "local" DJs or regurgitated "multicasted" content. In fact, it pretty much has nothing to do with radio at all.
Rather it seems that iBiquity has finally figured out that it needs to leverage the one true asset it has: bandwidth.
Instead, HD Radio has decided to get into the personal navigation device (PND) market, and showed off some prototypes at CES. The asset their bringing to these GPS devices is real-time traffic.
iBiquity
says the new HD Radio-powered real-time traffic technology (dubbed HD-TMC) will
provide
"significant
improvement in speed and road condition details" over the similar
offerings from Satellite Radio, or even the FM version (known as radio
data systems-traffic message channel, or RDS-TMC).
And best of all for HD, is by embedding the HD-TMC into these navigation devices, they also are embedding HD Radios themselves into each PND.
Dual Electronics will be the first manufacturer to launch these PNDs
using HD-TMC. You can see the "HD-TMC" channel the device is tuned to in the picture above.
It's a concept I personally cannot criticize HD Radio, in fact, I commend them on the effort.
I suggested the exact same strategy for satellite radio over a year and a half ago. Getting into PNDs is a logical step, especially as people add more and more devices to their dashboard. And considering that PNDs consistently are top sellers at electronics retailers, it's definitely a missed opportunity in my opinion.
There are two groups of service providers for HD Radio's real-time traffic data: Clear Channel's national service, and a group called the "Broadcaster Traffic Consortium" which is comprised of a broadcasters hoping to get in the game.
The BTC partnered up with NAVTEQ to build a nationwide broadcasting network to distribute traffic and other data services.
Clear Channel Radio's "Total Traffic Network" service, which is the first to launch the HD Radio offering, delivers traffic information at speeds of more than 500 messages per minute in in 50 markets.
Below are some photos of another application of HD Radio's real-time traffic technology. Notice that they can pipe in other data as well, such as stock quotes and gas prices.
iBiquity
says the new HD Radio-powered real-time traffic technology (dubbed HD-TMC) will
provide
"significant
improvement in speed and road condition details" over the similar
offerings from Satellite Radio, or even the FM version (known as radio
data systems-traffic message channel, or RDS-TMC).And best of all for HD, is by embedding the HD-TMC into these navigation devices, they also are embedding HD Radios themselves into each PND.
Dual Electronics will be the first manufacturer to launch these PNDs
using HD-TMC. You can see the "HD-TMC" channel the device is tuned to in the picture above.It's a concept I personally cannot criticize HD Radio, in fact, I commend them on the effort.
I suggested the exact same strategy for satellite radio over a year and a half ago. Getting into PNDs is a logical step, especially as people add more and more devices to their dashboard. And considering that PNDs consistently are top sellers at electronics retailers, it's definitely a missed opportunity in my opinion.
There are two groups of service providers for HD Radio's real-time traffic data: Clear Channel's national service, and a group called the "Broadcaster Traffic Consortium" which is comprised of a broadcasters hoping to get in the game.
The BTC partnered up with NAVTEQ to build a nationwide broadcasting network to distribute traffic and other data services.
Clear Channel Radio's "Total Traffic Network" service, which is the first to launch the HD Radio offering, delivers traffic information at speeds of more than 500 messages per minute in in 50 markets.
Below are some photos of another application of HD Radio's real-time traffic technology. Notice that they can pipe in other data as well, such as stock quotes and gas prices.
Here's a reality: consumers have a limit for the number of devices they're willing to deal with. Whether it's on your belt, purse, pocket, or even on your dashboard. There's a inherent maximum before consumers are forced to prioritize.
Right now, personal navigation devices take an awful high priority. Getting from point A to point B is the entire reason why we're in the car. So when HD Radio offers a technology that proposes to get from point A to point B - faster - then they add value.
I want to be clear, I don't see this as increasing consumer's consumption of HD Radio itself. But it sure will enable iBiquity to spin the "increased number of sales of HD Radio enabled devices" in a positive direction.
Right now, personal navigation devices take an awful high priority. Getting from point A to point B is the entire reason why we're in the car. So when HD Radio offers a technology that proposes to get from point A to point B - faster - then they add value.
I want to be clear, I don't see this as increasing consumer's consumption of HD Radio itself. But it sure will enable iBiquity to spin the "increased number of sales of HD Radio enabled devices" in a positive direction.
In the bottem four pictures, is that Vista those devices are running? Hmmm....
Anyway, nice move by HD Radio. Never thought I would actually say that sentence.
I predict they will make a huge mistake by overcharging for this. People won't pay $10+ per month for a traffic subscription (plus some other things we don't really need), yet I bet they'll charge at least that.
Yes, these are just mock-ups running on a Vista box outputting to a regular small LCD display. Nowhere close to becoming a real product.
Looks more like Windows Mobile.
Anyways it only makes sense for Sirius XM Radio to do something like this. I mean they already have the technology (Satellites).
It's most likely a Bandwidth issue though.
"Microsoft sticks with analog"
"The company's MSN Direct was developing a new traffic and local information service using HD Radio signals. But after two years of investigating how HD Radio could be tapped, Microsoft decides to stick with its current analog system instead of converting to an HD Radio data service."
http://tinyurl.com/8unwdu
"MSN Direct Service Posts PND Gains"
2/11/2008
"MSN Direct's data dumps promise to accelerate when the service supplements its analog transmissions with digital HD Radio transmission, said HD-Radio developer iBiquity Digital. The company demonstrated 12kbps MSN Direct during CES and touted the potential to deliver data at up to 50kbps if a digital FM station delivers two 48kbps programming channels. Digital FM stations have the bandwidth to deliver audio and data at a combined total data rate of 150kbps, iBiquity said. HD Radio will enable MSN Direct to download traffic reports before a driver put his car in drive, and it will enable the service to offer additional content, iBiquity said."
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6530977.html?industryid=45190
If iBiquity is depending on Microsoft's MSN Direct, then forget it.
I checked it out...it is Windows Mobile. However I am not sure why that matters to everyone. The OS is irrelevant if it is just a means of displaying code. A manufacturer can use whatever they want to ingest and display the content, if the core app is written in something transferable like C++ or C#.
"The asset their bringing to these GPS devices is real-time traffic."
It's "they're", not "their".