National Association of Broadcasters Again Urges Apple to Add FM Radio to iPhones

[Slidemonster]

Dying industry wants disrupters to support their product.

Buggy whip manufacturer support group meets on Tuesdays.

In comparison - I recall a story recently about the need for amateur radio operators (ham radio) in Puerto Rico because everything else has failed due to the hurricanes. Perhaps FM is a dying industry but can be very important to people when they *really* need it.
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The problem will be with the antennas. With the Nano (and likely the 6S and prior iPhones), the FM antenna was the headphone cord. Now that Apple has done away with the 3.5mm headphone jack, they would have to use one of the other internal antennas, which in terms of FM antenna size, is tiny (the longer the better).

Doesn't the newer phones have a lightening port which allows one to plug in a headphone cord? Granted its a different adapter.

 

[orev]

I'd rather the government was an industry stooge, than that any private entity whether corporate or individual, was a government stooge.

That's not the purpose of government, which is to act for the the collective good of all the people when individual desires do not achieve the correct outcome (This IS the purpose of government, even if it has been corrupted). Industry has a large vested interest in preventing this from happening, because they always want to make more money or lower costs, always at the cost of society as a whole. For example companies would much rather pollute (which causes health issues that everyone needs to pay for) the environment than implement emissions controls, or would much rather not have to adhere to safety standards (which would lead to more injuries that everyone needs to pay for) because it raises costs. If industry is in control of government, then that doesn't happen.

If Apple does not want to add this functionality who is the government to require it is this instance

IF it is a safety issue as Pai says, then the only way to enforce it is through regulation. Companies do not include safety equipment unless they are forced to because it raises costs. Again, that is IF IT IS A SAFETY ISSUE AS PAI IS ASSERTING.

We already have too many government regulations, especially when consumers can make Apple do this.

Apple is hyper politically correct. What does that mean, it means that all we need to get it done is for the minority and LGBT communities to think its a good idea and it will happen. We need to expose the lack of safety in Apple devices without radio for situation like Puerto Rico, Florida, and Texas hurricanes. What is the one thing that people take with them when an emergency arises. Its the phone. This means that Apple has a higher responsibility for a phone then they did for an iPod. Lets make this a national issue and keep the government out of it.

Consumers generally don't demand safety equipment, because it raises costs to them. Everyone thinks that bad things won't happen to them, so they don't want to buy it. Also this kind of thing is not a critical feature that people can choose or not choose to buy, so the market forces don't work here.

There have been numerous disasters and literally no one said where's FM radio so I can get safety information. Because that would require locals to stay in the area where it's not safe. That's because there are other things the mitigate this need already built into the phone. He's just lying and trying to increase his own power and influence through big government big bully tactics. He should be careful because Apple may decide to use its money and influence

This is completely false. Literally everyone DID bring this up because of the ongoing issues in Puerto Rico especially. Additionally Pai in in fact doing the exact opposite of using big government bully tactics because he's just whinging about it and not actually making any regulations. Everything in your post is the exact opposite of what is actually happening.

 

[justperry]

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&O=&Q=&ap=y&c3api=1876,{creative},{keyword}&gclid=Cj0KCQjw95vPBRDVARIsAKvPd3LMQLi50jZMSkkAm0-Mzt3d04HT3YVV9Nk_ro1MlDIeAK-MZPkI21UaAnsOEALw_wcB&is=REG&m=Y&sku=1104989

theres that solution, its a bit bulky but whatever

Don't know if anyone else replied to this but if not here's my reply:

This is not what you think it is, it's not a radio as in it plays music to an iPhone, you connect this to your iPhone to then have the music broadcast over a frequency you select on the small device, next you tune in on your Radio in a car for instance so you here the music YOU broadcast.

 

[monkeybongo]

How about NAB give everyone a portable $5 radio for every US citizen?

 

[WatchFromAfar]

It absolutely is outdated and poised to be disrupted out of existence.

Funny how Apple's CarPlay supports FM radio if they are so forward thinking and it's "outdated and poised to be disrupted out of existence".

 

[bollman]

I'm deeply saddened by the obvious state of radio programming in the US. The Swedish radio, with no commercials, provide the most amazing programming on up to 7 channels depending on where you live. I've also lived in the UK and enjoyed BBC, also commercial free. I love the "curated playlists" (called actual music programs, you know where presenters talk about the music) and "podcasts" (called talk shows) that require no work from me other than turning the radio on. And no, I can't choose what's on, and it's fantastic, it can be anything on that widens my views, makes me upset about the state of the world or makes me in love with new music.

When it comes to radio in the iPhone, no one ever said that _earphones_ were needed, just some antenna. Since Apple has been slow with Qi, all phones still has this proprietary connector called lightning. Just plug a wire into that and you're done, it all depends on where Apple decides to solder the antenna to the FM part of the radio chip. No headphones needed, yay!
Also, there's no gun to Apples head demanding crystal clear FM stereo reception for quality broadcasts of fantastic programming. Mono, no RDS, no fancy stuff at all that can receive PSAs in an emergency is all that they require. It shouldn't make the iPhone even one cent more expensive, would it really disturb your circles to have that feature built in?

 

[Jakexb]

Next up: regulators consider forcing apple to include emergency rations, 1 gallon of potable water, a first aid kit, and an epipen inside every new iPhone sold. Lives depend on it!

 

[mwined]

Flashlight functionality also uses up the battery, and flashlights can be obtained separately very cheaply and would be more powerful and better...but the functionality is available and can be used on an iPhone nonetheless.

False analogy. The LED is there for the camera. The flashlight in the iPhone is using that existing LED
As new models of smart phones come out without headphone jacks (a sorry state of affairs, to be sure), the required antenna (typically wired headphones) is not a thing.
Tell ya what. Make bluetooth headphone manufacturers include FM radio. Future proof!

 

[lazard]

sounds like they want more listeners because radio is a dying industry

60M listeners isn't that bad for a dying industry

 

[C DM]

False analogy. The LED is there for the camera. The flashlight in the iPhone is using that existing LED
As new models of smart phones come out without headphone jacks (a sorry state of affairs, to be sure), the required antenna (typically wired headphones) is not a thing.
Tell ya what. Make bluetooth headphone manufacturers include FM radio. Future proof!

It's not a false analogy, just an analogy about a different aspect of it all: it's not there to relate to the part of how much it would take to get something working, but to the aspect of having something available that has standalone versions and which might be using up resources when used.

 

[KPOM]

Ask 2008.

Ask 2000. The tech industry crash didn’t drag down the rest of the economy. The financial services industry was already highly regulated in 2008.

 

[cube]

Ask 2000. The tech industry crash didn’t drag down the rest of the economy. The financial services industry was already highly regulated in 2008.

And that did not stop them from innovating the global economy down.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Funny how Apple's CarPlay supports FM radio if they are so forward thinking and it's "outdated and poised to be disrupted out of existence".

Except is doesn't. Perhaps you mean that audio hardware third party manufacturers produce that support CarPlay often also support legacy broadcast? That's a very different thing.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Except is doesn't. Perhaps you mean that audio hardware third party manufacturers produce that support CarPlay often also support legacy broadcast? That's a very different thing.

Is it? "hey third party manufacturer, does FM work?" "Yep", OK I'm good to go (the dumb legacy argument never enters the conversation).

 

[smashmarc]

I love my iPhone but...It's all about choice!

There is plenty of quality programming on worldwide FM...and it's all FREE! Considering what consumers pay for these devices and how easily this feature could be enabled, the intentional omission of FM radio is a huge letdown. Most people don't walk around with a separate FM receiver. In a major emergency (not exactly unforeseeable nowadays) FM radio is far more resilient and robust than the cellular system or WiFi.

IMO, the reason Apple cripples the capability is threefold:
1. Reception requires at least an 18" external wire antenna (EarPods would work fine) - but this would directly contradict Apple's leading the charge away from wired anything.
2. They have a vested interest selling paid streaming services in Apple Music.
3. Customers listening to free radio spend less time making purchases in the iTunes and App Stores.

In other words....There's nothing in it for them!

 

[C DM]

I love my iPhone but...It's all about choice!

There is plenty of quality programming on worldwide FM...and it's all FREE! Considering what customers pay for these devices, the intentional omission of FM radio is a huge letdown. Most people don't walk around with a separate FM receiver. In a major emergency (not exactly unforeseeable nowadays) FM radio is far more resilient and robust than the cellular system or WiFi.

IMHO, the reason Apple cripples the capability is threefold:
1. Reception requires at least an 18" external wire antenna - which directly contradicts Apple's leading the charge away from wired anything.
2. They have a vested interest selling paid streaming services in Apple Music.
3. Customers listening to free radio spend less time making purchases in the App Store.

In other words....There's nothing in it for them!

To be fair, given iPhone sales over the years all without radio capabilities, it seems like it's not really much of a letdown (let alone a huge one).

Well, also, there's nothing in it for them to offer flashlight capability, yet it's there nonetheless.

 

[manu chao]

The fallacy is making that assumption and basing things off of that. There are plenty of people that use radio on a daily basis while they rarely use a flashlight.

I don't assume, I observe and extrapolate based on my observations (of my personal usage, the usage of the people around me, online discussions mentioning the use, and other data points from podcasts to media).

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Is it? "hey third party manufacturer, does FM work?" "Yep", OK I'm good to go (the dumb legacy argument never enters the conversation).

It is, your premise was Apple is including FM on CarPlay and that would be incongruous with not including it on iPhone. They don't. Now you're moving the goal posts.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

It is, your premise was Apple is including FM on CarPlay and that would be incongruous with not including it on iPhone. They don't. Now you're moving the goal posts.

Depends on the timeline; if Apple obliterated it going forward and removed such a redundant thing from the iPhone and all thing going forward then yes you'd would say it's dead to them.

However if a CarPlay system that's supported by Apple has FM (even by proxy, you think Apple are unaware?) then they can't pretend they don't have an obligation to support it on one devise but not another.

 

[s15119]

You said you don't want a radio on your phone. There's surely someone out there who similarly could say they don't care about and don't want a flashlight on their phone. Logical fallacy indeed.

I didn't think you would know. Have a nice day.

 

[C DM]

I don't assume, I observe and extrapolate based on my observations (of my personal usage, the usage of the people around me, online discussions mentioning the use, and other data points from podcasts to media).

Which doesn't necessarily extrapolate the same way to a much much larger degree. Clearly many many people listen to radio and many on a daily basis. Just as many don't use flashlights all that often.

 

[s15119]

Because it would be horrible to have the ability to listen to radio (without the need for a cellular/data signal)?

hint: buy a radio. good luck

 

[C DM]

I didn't think you would know. Have a nice day.

Going with a logical fallacy to imply a logical fallacy...best of luck to you.
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hint: buy a radio. good luck

Kind of like could have been done with the flashlight, and yet it's there.

 

[smashmarc]

To be fair, given iPhone sales over the years all without radio capabilities, it seems like it's not really much of a letdown (let alone a huge one).

Well, also, there's nothing in it for them to offer flashlight capability, yet it's there nonetheless.

Last time I checked, you could use the flashlight and listen to Apple Music at the same time!

 

[C DM]

Last time I checked, you could use the flashlight and listen to Apple Music at the same time!

So by that logic YouTube shouldn't be allowed since you can't watch something on YouTube and listen to Apple Music at the same time.