Survey: For Cars, Consumers Want iPhone or iPod Connectivity First

[dumber than a box of hair]

HD is far down the list, although in this survey it appears that awareness and interest are increasing:

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...finds-consumer-interest-in-int?ref=mail_recap

The highest interest for in-car use is streaming from the Internet, according to this survey.

 

[mmnassour]

Let's see....interest is up from 28% to 30%. Isn't that within the margin of error? ;D

 

[Tom Wells]

Gosh, I'd like to buy some kind of outboard AM analog tuner with really good shielding, true TRF front end, maybe double conversion, a clamp on antenna with a trimmer, with both USB and headphone jack ouitput to put into a modern deaf car "radio".

I don't want to see another digital mode disappointment foisted upon the public.

I did NOT say it won't work.
I'm suggesting people will be unimpressed with the milage/stability/reliability of such devices in motion,
in vehicles, for streaming purposes.

It's extremely unlikely that these networks will be built out "thick enough" to satisfy all addresses.
In rural areas such connectivity is too expensive to be built out by corporations operated soley for profit.
Perhaps there would need to be some new equivalent of the Rural Electrification/telephone mandate/tax/levy to ensure
that any such new infrastructure were as equally available to ALL citizens as traditional radio is.
That is, no "bill" for the "pipe", the "service provider". Just as with rf it would need to be transparent to the listener.
Otherwise, real bad deal for everyone except the service provider.


But marketing is clearly on this idea's side...after all, you get an actual listener count.
Once you are an IP address, you exist as a listener.

Marketing would really like to get away from traditional radio, if a more profitable, "targetable" model of "radio"
delivery can be popularized.

I get along fine with all kinds of electronics but in a car, I really like no screens of any kind.

 

[Darth_vader]

I'd favour an analogue line-in port and an outboard crossbar selector over USB plugs or useless, invariably proprietary I-Whatever ports for *my* truck radio any day!

 

[Manic_Monkey]

Marketing would really like to get away from traditional radio, if a more profitable, "targetable" model of "radio"
delivery can be popularized.

I don't know why but the concept of being targeted with ads annoys me more than the occasional onslaught of never ending ads on terrestrial radio.

At any rate such a survey seems like a moot thing. If someone doesn't have a new car with an audio jack built in then chances are they replaced the stock radio with a newer one that has an audio jack.

 

[Ai4i]

I get along fine with all kinds of electronics but in a car, I really like no screens of any kind.

I want to know how fast I am driving!

 

[landtuna]

Anyone else out there suspect that the new nav systems point-of-interest feature only targets POI's who have paid a fee to be included?

The very first time wifey tried using her new nav to find our favorite Chinese restaurant it wouldn't come up. After driving there and parking in their lot she tried again.....no listing. This is not a tiny neighborhood restaurant and has been there many years.

But all the McDonald's show up. ??? ??? ???

Mobile Internet? Absolutely not! I can't even carry on a conversation with her in the car while she is driving. I sure don't want her surfing the Net!!!!!

 

[Tom Wells]

I get along fine with all kinds of electronics but in a car, I really like no screens of any kind.

I want to know how fast I am driving!

I wasn't counting analog needle-type gauges. I'm fine with meters and gauges.
It's navigating through screens and menus on any type of video screen that I don't want in a car.

Anyone else out there suspect that the new nav systems point-of-interest feature only targets POI's who have paid a fee to be included?

The very first time wifey tried using her new nav to find our favorite Chinese restaurant it wouldn't come up. After driving there and parking in their lot she tried again.....no listing. This is not a tiny neighborhood restaurant and has been there many years.

But all the McDonald's show up. ??? ??? ???

Mobile Internet? Absolutely not! I can't even carry on a conversation with her in the car while she is driving. I sure don't want her surfing the Net!!!!!

Another major drawback to such newer technology is the pay for exposure behavior where "the service" pretends to be a "service" , when in fact it is targeted marketing and intended to make sure no one finds about
every little Chinese restaurant. That being the case, there should be no cost to the end user.

I'm willing to bet there's no way for a user to input negation data into such systems.
That is, I don't think there's any way for you to tell such GPS navigation systems to NEVER "inform" you about
the availabilty of McDonalds.

And targeted advertising IS more annoying than blind advertising, at least to those who recognize that it is happening.

 

[ddsparxx]

Mobile internet? Sounds dangerous. To me, I can't do it. Definitely agree with Tom. No touch screens for radios, (I think some Chrylser vehicles have them), BMW's iDrive, GPS, or anything with screens on the dashboard.

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe I missed it, but it seemed to me the article dealt with people wanting these things as standard equipment, or for free. Not for extra charge. Because a lot of these things are already available...just as an option.

 

[kenglish]

When asking "which would you prefer", most people know what an iPhone is, and what an iPod is. But, how many really know anything about HD Radio, other than hearing it mentioned constantly on the stations that subscribe to it?
I've yet to hear a station actually tell us what format they play on their sub-channels.
There are a million new technologies out there. Like the "iPeople" already know, you have to promote the product, not just the tech.

 

[Savage]

They don't want to commit hari-kiri by promoting the formats on the dopey subchannels, because it might fragment listenership to the main channel. Many of these station format leaders are hanging onto competitive radio advertising buys by their fingernails. It doesn't take much to slide downwards in rank by two, three or four stations if the ratings don't go your way. When that happens it can cost six to seven figures in lost revenues on agency buys.

Sit in the GM's chair for a second, and think: do I want to risk my station's market rank (and my job) by inviting my core, priceless listeners to listen to something else? Just to promote some digital system for which nobody even owns radios?

Most local management feels the same way about HD Radio as we do. On a good day, a PITA. On a bad day, a direct threat to their success.

 

[landtuna]

Why did so many jump aboard the HD Express then? Were they hoping it was the new "killer app" that would revitalize radio? Did the Big Radio execs make their decision in alcohol-fueled beach parties in the Bahamas sponsored by iBiquity? Did any of them actually listen to the HD signal to see if it was that much better than a quality FM signal already being broadcast?

Throw in the Great Recession (and the need to buy new radios to listen to HD) and it sure looks to me like the major dumb decision of all time (broadcast radio category).

 

[mmnassour]

Did the Big Radio execs make their decision in alcohol-fueled beach parties in the Bahamas sponsored by iBiquity? Did any of them actually listen to the HD signal to see if it was that much better than a quality FM signal already being broadcast?

And if it wasn't....could they have told the difference? :

 

[Ai4i]

HD Radio can sound GR8.
Too many stations process such that as radios in the field switch back and forth, the no change is heard.
They could promote, "HD Radio, it sounds just as good as analogueue"!

 

[TheBigA]

Why did so many jump aboard the HD Express then? Were they hoping it was the new "killer app" that would revitalize radio?

Put it in context of the time. Satellite was offering 100 commercial free music channels. That's tough to compete against.

Dumbest decision? Put in the context of 100 years of dumb decisions, no. But as Dolly Parton once said, "Everything I've done seemed like a good idea at the time."

 

[landtuna]

Why did so many jump aboard the HD Express then? Were they hoping it was the new "killer app" that would revitalize radio?

Put it in context of the time. Satellite was offering 100 commercial free music channels. That's tough to compete against.

I thought we were talking about HD radio, not Sirius/XM.

 

[TheBigA]

I thought we were talking about HD radio, not Sirius/XM.

That's my point. HD Radio came along at the exact same time as XM and Sirius.

 

[landtuna]

At least Sirius and XM worked.

Pretty clear HD radio is puffery.

I'm guessing both will be gone within a decade (but it probably won't take that long for HD).

 

[calstymes]

TheBigA suggested:

Dumbest decision? Put in the context of 100 years of dumb decisions, no. But as Dolly Parton once said, "Everything I've done seemed like a good idea at the time."

The radio industry MIGHT have been able to excuse HD Radio as something decent and intelligent to try if it had been engineered with some degree of honesty. Unfortunately, it was not and both technology was borrowed and bullied away from others in order to make essentially what is an awful system, work. Physics do not lie, and the AM system in particular was destined never to work properly. In the end, it was the one who had the most borrowed funding and "clout" who won. But the people lost and they remain frozen in this wasteland of what amounted to a waste of time, technology and talent over the past 15 years. This is one of the most mis-managed things that the FCC ever didn't bother to understand before they gave their blessing.