An interesting article on TWICE says exactly that. Apparently XM's contract with many suppliers prohibits the selling of XM Connect-and-Play style technology, without having some costly repercussions.
Snip:
During XM's contract period, home audio suppliers wanting to offer Sirius service are presented with what contend are less-than-optimum choices: One is offering the same product as two separate SKUs, raising the products' costs and forcing retailers to stock additional SKUs. The second is to offer an XM-ready product with built-in Sirius tuner, further raising the suppliers' costs. Said one supplier, “The cost of adding a full-blown Sirius tuner in an XM-ready product is cost-prohibitive for us given the fact that the model has to have wide appeal, and consumer pricing is critical.”
Interesting. Can anyone confirm this? They also mention possible delays of a SiriusConnect "portable" like the XM Passport because of this contract. The article is worded in a fancy fashion, with no official comments from XM or SIRIUS - but then again, I wouldn't expect one.
[TWICE]
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