Today, smart phones are the rage. Popular products include any Blackberry device, the Apple iPhone, and the Samsung Blackjack. Palm has had a hit-or-miss business history, with some notable successes and some less-notable products as well. Satellite radio is among the best-of-all-worlds features promised by AT&T’s new Palm Centro.
The Palm Centro is a stylish smart phone with a touch screen, an extensive QWERTY keyboard, and, get this, an integrated XM radio. In addition, the Palm Centro offers a number of other AT&T-only options. A built-in web browser by the name of Blazer, 64MB of mp3 player storage (which can be increased to 4GB with a card), and 25 XM radio channels make up the full list of features. Although there are considerably more channels available on XM, this is still a small number.) it does offer portability and the ability to customize which channels you get.
From your phone, you can access talk radio programs, your favorite XM music, live sporting events, and more. The phone itself promises to compete favorably with many other smart phones currently on the market, despite the fact that it is receiving mixed reviews (a legacy of Palms’ less than stellar past offerings). It’s a great feature just that it can also function as a portable XM radio. Combining that with its capability to stream Web TV shows, play MP3s, and other features, Palm may have a winning formula.
It should come as no surprise that mobile technology is turning to incorporating music broadcasting given the widespread acceptance of satellite radio in the modern automotive industry. Sirius radio and Apple were in contact over a year ago about adding Sirius radio as a bonus feature to the iPod. Consumer demand was still an idea, even though the partnership did not materialize at the time. Without a doubt, satellite radio will join the ranks of other phone features like MP3 storage, video recording, and cameras.
Other companies are developing phones that promise more than this, but the Palm is the only one of its kind to make an appearance so far. Customers who want XM radio (or any satellite radio for that matter) are therefore limited to using the Palm Centro (legally).
Why hasn’t the Centro received more favorable reviews? Only using AT&T’s GSM network, which many customers dislike for a variety of reasons, contributes to the issue in some measure. Another reason is that the phone costs at least $100, even though compared to the cost of an iPhone (which lacks XM), this seems like a bargain. The Centro is a true smart phone with a wide range of software options, but only time will tell if it will make a splash on the market.
While this is happening, XM radio fans who want to always have their favorite station with them but don’t want to deal with Palm products can purchase a number of XM radio products that provide the portability they want. Consumers who want a single device (a phone, PDA, and radio) will have to wait for a while longer. Perhaps Sirius is developing a platform that will be superior to GSM? Unfortunately, we’ll just have to wait and see what the media behemoths have in store for consumers; however, given the rapid development of the Palm, Sirius’s offering is probably not far behind. One could argue that the era of portable satellite radio with mobile phone capabilities is already here.