In-house Radio.app in the works for iPhone and iPod touch
We've just received a tip that an iPhone radio.app is being developed in-house by Apple for use on the iPhone and iPod touch. From what we know, the app will be allowed to operate in the background like iPod.app and will offer the same functionality as the FM radio in the new iPod Nanos. The source mentioned that this application could also be incorporated into the iPod.app before release.
The holdup on this app is that Apple is trying to integrate the Mobile iTunes Store purchases into the functionality of the program. For instance, if you like a song you are listening to on the radio (and that station supports tagging and you are in the US), you will be able to push a button and see the song (and all of the information around it) in the iTunes Mobile store. With another click, you'll be able to make a purchase. This is an extension of the Song Tagging feature used in the iPod Nanos. Perhaps they could even add some Shazam technology to help with those stations that don't support tagging.
Though it wasn't specified, the app will likely have the same Live Pause functionality that the Nanos currently enjoy.
Apple's iPods and iPhones have been able to receive FM radio signals for some time now. The latest generation of iPhone and iPod touch can even broadcast FM signal, for instance to a car stereo. The ability of the iPhone and iPod touch to receive FM signals has been used solely in the implementation of the Nike+ ecosystem to this point.
This wouldn't be the first time Apple awoke sleeping hardware functionality from its mobile products. Apple sometimes chooses to leave hardware features dormant in their products until they feel the time is right. For instance, Apple didn't enable Bluetooth in its 2nd generation iPod touch
The addition of an FM radio would eliminate that advantage from the ZuneHD over Apple's line of Touch OSX products.
(alright...if you can't tell by my shitty cut/paste, that's a poor mockup up there)
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Comments (70)
I hope this app goes through the app-store process and FAILS like all the other poor apps that have to go through it... ha ha just kidding.
You are an idiot.
Apple is making the app.
Someone is an idiot, just not the original poster. They were making fun of the application process, and wished that Apple had to go through the same process that they put everyone else for.
You have to be the dumbest person alive right now.
sweet!
Like the Zune...?
Like Zune, but a year late. This was rolled out on the Zune devices last year and not just on the latest device, but on all devices sold since day 1, including the orginal brown turd.
zune ftw
Is M$ still making that app-lacking device or it just isn't selling? I'd heard that the Zune did pick up some market share with it for awhile. Share went from 1% to 1.0002%. For a Zune that is decent progress.
No, Jobs later commented that the .0002% was simply a rounding error.
forget a FM spp....wireless N "mouth-watering"
forget a FM app....wireless N "mouth-watering"
Sorry to nitpick... but you are wrong about the Zune comment. Zune gets HD radio... something that actually makes it somewhat useful. Basic FM reception is crap.
Actually HD radio is quite useless since it exists only in a minority of the world.
If i'm not wrong the US is the only place where it is possible to use.
very (!!!) useful ;)
usual FM can be found all around the world
I agree. HD radio is only available in the states, kind of sucks for us Europeans :(.
The big issue might be which iPhone/touches not only have the chip, but have the proper wiring to use the earphone cord as an antenna. Not amount of software engineering can fix a hardware deficiency.
Except HD radio requires enormous power consumption and will probably give you limited playing time on any portable devices. That's been the stumbling block to HD Radio so far -- you have to keep a constant wideband connection to multiple sources streaming a high volume of signal all the time. That needs a lot of power. Notice how most HD Radios so far are either in home units or in cars? Not an accident. The cheap transistor radio paradigm is long past. You can't run HD radio on a 9 volt battery.
And don't even get me started on speakers and audio output for HD through ear buds. Wide spectrum audio requires better headsets than those currently available (Dr. Dre's headset not withstanding -- if you've got the cash!)
Nuff said.
Do you know what you are talking about or are you just guessing and rambling. "Will probably", "Most something", "HD thorugh earbuds is bad".
I think you should end with "too much said" instead of "nuff said".
Why don't you just go get a ZuneHD, you will find your myths dispelled.
Seriously did you read the post you are responding to? You actually made up quotes from it!
So instead of telling us all how smart you are by attacking this post, tell us about YOUR HD Zune. Clearly you must own one, because you said ownership will dispel myths.
Of course "if" you own one, why are you on a board about iPods?
Oh, I get it. M$ fanboi, trying to fix the rep of their mothership by attacking iPod responses.
Have fun and Nuff Said!!
HD radio is not wideband audio. That would be Analog audio. HD radio is bit compressed streaming using the analog carrier. It's basically a AAC+ mp3 stream. Don't let the HD confuse you. Whereas HDTV is High Def TV, HD Radio is High Density Radio. That means they can stuff more channels onto the spectrum without having to apply for new CP's..
Take it from an actually AM/FM engineer, HD radio is FAIL on a massive scale..
Actually, "HD Radio" does not stand for High Density Radio.
In the case of iBiquity's "HD Radio" product, the HD in question stands for... absolutely nothing. iBiquity has stated several times that the "HD" in "HD Radio" is simply a brand name.
Earlier, shortly after the inception of HD Radio, references to HD as "Hybrid Digital" were made in various pieces of documentation pertaining to the product. The term has since been denounced by iBiquity. So there you have it, the curtain has been pulled aside, revealing the truth behind iBiquity's clever ploy.
In any case, HD Radio is a far cry from anything your average audiophile may consider to be high definition.
iBiquity shamelessly allows consumers to carry on believing in their misleading marketing scheme, which capitalizes on popular, previously established terminology that is, in reality, completely unrelated to their trademarked pair of soulless, empty letters.
It's not enough that the HD in HD radio is not defined as High Definition... it lacks all definition whatsoever.
HD radio is not wideband audio. That would be Analog audio. HD radio is bit compressed streaming using the analog carrier. It's basically a AAC+ mp3 stream. Don't let the HD confuse you. Whereas HDTV is High Def TV, HD Radio is High Density Radio. That means they can stuff more channels onto the spectrum without having to apply for new CP's..
Take it from an actually AM/FM engineer, HD radio is FAIL on a massive scale..
will this work on my iphone 2G????
Why has this person been down-voted? It's a legitimate question! Anyone have an answer?
will this work on my 1987 motorola?
it'll work on your 1987 walkman, for sure :)
That's... funny as hell.
Of course not. Apple wants you to buy a new model.
yes it will if you google the airport card (wifi) in your 2nd gen ipod touch you will see it also has bluetooth... and a fm receiver the bluetooth was originally only used for nike... until 3.0 no matter what the post says...
Of Course they don't release it until they find a way to make you buy more crap from iTunes..... Just release the danm thing already ! All this crap like Genius are just plots to make us spend more money on iTunes....