The Tipping iPoint

It's time to test your knowledge about how quickly the iPod phenomenon is going to affect those of us in radio - satellite or terrestrial.  According to Automotive News, what percentage of 2007 vehicles sold in the U.S. will have iPod/Mp3 connectivity?

                a. 40%
                b. 50%
                c. 60%
                d. 70%

(Answer at the end)

You probably read the announcement about how iPod connections will be installed in Ford, GM, and Mazda cars starting in 2007.  Yes, this should be a wakeup call to the satellite radio machers, as well as the HD Alliance.  Apple is on the march, and their presence in middle class car and truck brands ought to send a shiver down a lot of collective spines.  The good news is that AM/FM radios are still in cars, but for other fledgling new media, life just got tougher.

How much impact does the iPod have?  Consider this focus group of one:  a PD we know tells the story of his wife's recent car shopping project.  It came down to a BMW 3-series, the Jaguar X-Type, and the Mercedes C-Class.

The winner?  The BMW - and the iPod connectivity was the difference maker.  And when she went back to the dealer to pick up her new car, she brought her iPod with her, and was more excited to plug it in than to play with any other feature or toy. 

In a microcosmic way, this story says a lot about what may move vehicles.  Troubled GM and Ford may have actually made a good decision, but what does it say about what people are listening to on the road?  And what does it say about how we're going to need to be programming in order to retain their listenership?

By the way, the answer to our trivia question above is that 70% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. will feature iPod/mp3 hook-ups.  The Automotive News used this story to designate "winners and losers" in the deal, and they are sadly predictable:

Winners: Apple, Ford, GM, Mazda, Chrysler, car dealers, consumers, suppliers

Losers:  Satellite radio, commercial radio, CD players

You can bet I'll be asking NAB CEO David Rehr how he thinks radio can win back cars and trucks as we head into an increasingly uncertain future.  David opens up Jacobs Media Summit 11 in Dallas on Tuesday, September 19th. 

Comments

[Phil]

I have an interesting parallel story. In the market for a used car once, I test drove a VW Golf and a Mazda Protege. They were both about the same price, and both performed the same, but the VW had a jack available to plug in your CD player (cassette was then the norm in cars). I bought the Golf - and immediately played the CD with 'Da Da Da' on it - which was the current campaign for the VW Golf.

[Greg Gillispie]

"Consider this focus group of one: a PD we know tells the story of his wife's recent car shopping project. It came down to a BMW 3-series, the Jaguar X-Type, and the Mercedes C-Class."

Clearly, this PD is making too much money...
or needs to talk to his wife about setting the standard to buy a car with an iPod docking station, which ultimately swerve her and many of his other listeners into a lane that does not include his station...

[Dave Paulus]

If we seperate ourselves from our emotions on this issue, the truth is that given a choice of listening to a station with 14 minutes of spots, another 3 minutes of clutter and songs that while they might like most, they have no control over....versus a commerical free entity, where they control evey single song that plays, and they're all they're favorites with the same quality of any other broadcast station...there is truly no choice!

The only thing that stops that currently is that difficult to operate Griffin Tech-like adapter that is a big hassle for most operators to use on a consistant basis

Unless, you provide a comsumer with unique content that can't be duplicated anywhere else and that creates the "can't miss it" passion level....maybe not tomorrow..or next week, or next year..but eventually, it will be GAME, SET, and MATCH....most certainly for the younger music consumers.

Fred, great post.