Aug
22
Written by:
Paul McLane
8/22/2012 8:49 AM
Paul McLane is editor in chief.
The news about an Apple patent that involves radio
is intriguing.
As we’ve
reported on our website, the
company just
received a patent for “seamless
switching between radio and local media.” This raises a host of possibilities;
and one of the most obvious is that it presumably will make it easier for consumers
to avoid commercials, and that presumably is a bad thing for the traditional revenue-based
radio model (sample headline this morning: “New
Apple Patent Could Kill Commercial Radio”).
But before we hyperventilate, the news could also be seen as positive.
Radio advocates have long urged Apple to incorporate
radio into its products more widely. Here we see Apple giving signs that it is
thinking about how radio fits into media products, and how to better integrate
it. This development could imply broader interest on the part of Apple in
incorporating radio functionality more widely.
Yet again,
reading patent tea leaves always is a dangerous hobby, and companies often file
patents that do not directly result in products. Some early chatter is that Apple could “transform” radio with this. I am always leery of such reactions. There is much to ponder here. We’ll watch with interest to
see what Apple, and industry observers, have to say about this.
2 comment(s) so far...
Re: Apple's Patent: Welcome Attention or Death Knell?
This might cause both terrestrial and satellite radio to rethink some things and could benefit both. They get a bit myopic with their view of how to serve their markets.
By Ty Ford on
8/23/2012 7:58 AM
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Re: Apple's Patent: Welcome Attention or Death Knell?
Local radio wont go anywhere without a fight! This threat of pre-empting radio's commercials was an inspiration for me to add a pre-roll feature to our interactivity. This would allow us to roll a teaser line specific to an ad across the RDS or our app 5 or 10 minutes before the ad actually airs. For example "save 20% on for insurance - details in 5 minutes".. Any thoughts?
By Rick Rowland on
9/17/2012 9:42 AM
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