MOTOROLA PLANS TO SHOWCASE IRADIO AT CES
Motorola said Fri. it will unveil its iRadio satellite car radio system at Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas Convention Center this week. New car radio system is one of many digital radios that companies are planning to compete with XM and Sirius Satellite Radio for customers, industry officials said. IRadio, developed by Motorola Telematics Unit is expected to offer satellite services and interact with Internet through digital cellular networks which are primarily used for voice calls. Company is hoping to integrate iRadio with satellite navigation systems and emergency service products that are standard in many cars and trucks. CES is being used to showcase prototype with hopes of attracting manufacturer of car audio products, firm said. Motorola believes “right company” could have products ready for introduction to marketplace in one year, spokesman said.
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Realistically, spokesman said “most of iRadio products won’t hit marketplace until 2003.” CES will showcase “number of low- cost” digital radio products “that are about to flood market,” analyst said: “This will be the first strike in a technological revolution” for digital radio. Prototypes of radios that can pick up digital signals from new satellite services along with 13,000 traditional terrestrial broadcasters, are expected to be hot at convention, analysts said. Traditional radio stations and manufacturers are close to setting technical standard for digital audio broadcasting (DAB). Complete breakthrough will happen “during next 12-18 months,” industry official predicted. Result will be clearer signals and ability to send other kinds of data along with audio program. Radio and cassettes are final 2 forms of analog and move to “digital migration” is “long overdue,” said NPR Vp Mike Starling.
Pricing is still “up in air,” but industry officials believe first models will average $100 and later models “will probably be even cheaper,” source said. “Very quickly you're at zero premium for a superior product,” said iBiquity Digital CEO Robert Struble, whose company is developing DAB technology. Finding way to place all of new stations may cause “bigger worry” for FCC and broadcasters, he said. Other countries are using different spectrum for digital radio.
IRadio will join XM and Sirius in introducing service next year, officials said. Each plans to offer similar service and target same market, but iRadio seems to offer “a few more features” not available in XM and Sirius systems, analyst said. Digital radio listeners will have to pay subscription fee, which will likely be split with retailers under model planned by XM and Sirius. In exchange for portion of fee, retailers will sign up customers and market products.