• Business Week, Friday, January 13, 2006 11:15 AM

There's no gainsaying that satellite radio is white-hot.  XM and Sirius, the two big players in the segment, have captured subscribers, buzz, and significant ad dollars in recent months. And both vow that this is only the beginning. But their aggressive plans for revenue growth will not go unchallenged. A confluence of new technologies, not to mention newly emboldened competitors, are preparing to divert satellite from its flight path. Here's how they line up: high-def radio, wireless radio downloads, Apple Computer.  Each poses a real challenge to satellite. High-def allows individual broadcasters to stream more stations, with higher fidelity. It's a technology that's gaining momentum. Elsewhere, Motorola, in a novel move, has its iRadio service ready for a rollout later this year; it'll operate on a subscriber basis, seriously undercutting satellite radio's price points. And waiting in the wings while all this plays out is the big kahuna, Apple. If Apple chooses at any point to incorporate high-def radio into its iPod, all bets are off, say some industry observers.  Apple could instantly make inroads into SM and Sirius' subscriber growth.  There are reasons to believe that Apple will ultimately go the high-def radio route, reports Business Week, although a timetable is hard to predict. 

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