Could Apple put FM radio into their non-headphone jack phones?

That's the question.
Currently the National Association of Broadcasters is pressuring Apple to add FM to it's smartphones, saying it's trivial for them to do so. But it's really not because Apple says that all phones after the iPhone 6S series do not have the included FM receiver built-in.
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/18/nab-urges-apple-to-add-fm-radio-to-iphone/

But maybe it's possible? Back when I had an iPhone 4S I was able to use the (now deprecated) HD Radio app to listen to FM, along with an external adapter with a second headphone jack on it. The adapter plugged in via the charging port on the old iPhone 4S and the app used it to enable FM/HD radio on iOS. I don't know if those adapters are still being made, but here's an old article about them. https://tidbits.com/article/10741

So yeah, I think FM radio on iOS can be done, with an external device. Good luck finding one of those adapters, and getting it to work on the new iPhones. I don't think that's possible since that adapter's so outdated technology and the app doesn't work with newer versions of iOS (or so I'm told).

I just think that instead of complaining about Apple lacking FM, the NAB should build an adapter and app of their own and sell it. It would make them some money and we can stop hearing about their reasons why FM should come to iPhone. And hey with all the streaming radio and LTE out these days, only place I can see FM gaining total popularity is a small town with bad Internet access, where your only choice is to listen to FM or music you downloaded when you were in a big city at Starbucks.

AnyHuman said:

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I just think that instead of complaining about Apple lacking FM, the NAB should build an adapter and app of their own and sell it.

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Here you go, and it's free:

http://nextradioapp.com/

However, it doesn't work with Apple phones.

Technically it would be possible to build such a dongle, but:

a) Sales would probably be very low. No need to buy and carry around a dongle when they can just stream their favorite station through its app, under normal conditions. A standalone radio would be more convenient.

b) Apple would have the power to remove to put the app into the App Store if it became too popular.

The iPhone 4S had the old 30pin iPod charging port. They moved to the "lightning" port in the iPhone 5. So your old dongle definitely would not work.

To the folks at the NAB, the actions taken by Apple appear to be deliberate.

https://radioink.com/2017/10/18/nab-apple-deliberately-disables-fm-iphones/

One could use that to make a case that Apple is using its monopoly position to prevent consumers from using a function they're already paying for.

TheBigA said:

To the folks at the NAB, the actions taken by Apple appear to be deliberate.

https://radioink.com/2017/10/18/nab-apple-deliberately-disables-fm-iphones/

One could use that to make a case that Apple is using its monopoly position to prevent consumers from using a function they're already paying for.

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How do you figure Apple is a monopoly?

wavo said:

How do you figure Apple is a monopoly?

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The Justice Department already charged they were in 2010.

Remember that being a monopoly doesn't mean there's no competition, but rather that the company behaves in an anticompetitive manner.

TheBigA said:

The Justice Department already charged they were in 2010.

Remember that being a monopoly doesn't mean there's no competition, but rather that the company behaves in an anticompetitive manner.

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What could be more competitive than trying to outdo, weaken or even eliminate your competition? Isn't the goal of competition to win, or is the whole world just going for participation trophies now? How would a company that just sits there, not innovating, not trying to build market share, not trying to boost its attractiveness to investors be considered "competitive" while a company that's busting its butt to be No. 1 be considered "anticompetitive"?

CTListener said:

What could be more competitive than trying to outdo, weaken or even eliminate your competition? Isn't the goal of competition to win, or is the whole world just going for participation trophies now?

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Sure, but it's similar to competitive sports. The goal may be to win, but the issue is HOW you achieve that goal. So if you take certain drugs that enhance your performance, or you do certain things that hurt your opponent, you will be disqualified. That's what we're talking about with Apple. If you study the government's case against Standard Oil over 100 years ago, it's very similar.

TheBigA said:

Sure, but it's similar to competitive sports. The goal may be to win, but the issue is HOW you achieve that goal. So if you take certain drugs that enhance your performance, or you do certain things that hurt your opponent, you will be disqualified.

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Like the Atlanta Falcons deliberate dirty plays against targeted players on the opposing team by causing injuries to get them out of the game (sometimes severe enough to put them out for the rest of the season and in some cases, forced early retirement).

What happened to sportsmanship?

TheBigA said:

The Justice Department already charged they were in 2010.

Remember that being a monopoly doesn't mean there's no competition, but rather that the company behaves in an anticompetitive manner.

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I'm not so sure I agree given they have a lower market share than Android. I think they're very much competitive... at least that's what I hear from people within.

AnyHuman said:

That's the question.
Currently the National Association of Broadcasters is pressuring Apple to add FM to it's smartphones, saying it's trivial for them to do so. But it's really not because Apple says that all phones after the iPhone 6S series do not have the included FM receiver built-in.
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/18/nab-urges-apple-to-add-fm-radio-to-iphone/

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I hardly call macrumors.com an authority when it comes to real news.

Happy to eat my words but they will NOT be forced to do anything from the NAB. Apple is not interested in adding support for HD radio. There's no money to be made, just hope and nostalgia for those that love and miss listening to radio on a Walkman.

stewie said:

Happy to eat my words but they will NOT be forced to do anything from the NAB.

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I agree, but the NAB is pressuring the FCC and the FCC can mandate phones to activate FM chips if they wanted. Or they could threaten some DOJ inquiry. Lots of tools at their disposal. The government doesn't care if a trillion dollar company is making or losing money.

LOL, we'll see what happens. I'm almost positive turrestrial radio is just about done for, at least with the younger crowd who's into smart phones and Bluetooth. But as I said in my last post I guess it has it's uses, in areas with no Internet among other things. I think part of what drives people away from radio is the same 35 songs every few hours because everyone's so competitive. That's why I'm a big supporter of locally operated LPFM stations and the like.

AnyHuman said:

. I think part of what drives people away from radio is the same 35 songs every few hours because everyone's so competitive.

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And yet, when you look at the streaming charts, that's exactly what people stream when they get the chance to make their own playlists.

TheBigA said:

And yet, when you look at the streaming charts, that's exactly what people stream when they get the chance to make their own playlists.

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Which doesn't mean that listeners with eclectic or niche musical tastes don't exist. It's just that both they and mainstream music fans (the vast majority; that's why pop music gets to be called "popular") use streaming services. Both want to hear only what they like and nothing that they don't. There are so many of the latter and so few of the former that the statistics show a heavy preference for songs with strong mainstream appeal. The niche/eclectic listeners are listening to so many quirky personal favorites or songs from non-mainstream genres that none of those songs have any chance at all to make an impact in the overall statistics.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of the niche/eclectic crowd still listens to local AM/FM when they're not streaming those songs they love. I'd wager the percentage is higher than you might think, as local radio in most places is not limited to the sales-topping formats like CHR, AC, urban and contemporary country. I can imagine an EDM fan spending time with some sort of rhythmic music on FM, for example, or fans of any type of music listening to talk, news or sports on local radio.

CTListener said:

Which doesn't mean that listeners with eclectic or niche musical tastes don't exist.

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You're exactly right, but because we're talking about ad-supported radio stations, the goal is to attract the largest number of people possible, and the way to do that is to play consensus songs. But as I always say, if anyone ever gets tired of hearing "the same 35 songs every few hours," all they have to do is change the station to a different format, and they'll hear a completely different group of songs. So if we're talking about "the radio" as a single device that has access to about 50 or so radio stations, the radio gives people access to a lot more than 35 songs.

CTListener said:

It would be interesting to know what percentage of the niche/eclectic crowd still listens to local AM/FM when they're not streaming those songs they love. I'd wager the percentage is higher than you might think

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Again I agree, because a typical radio has access to lots of non-commercial radio stations that are not focused on attracting advertisers, and are therefore more likely to play songs for the eclectic/niche audience.

CTListener said:

It would be interesting to know what percentage of the niche/eclectic crowd still listens to local AM/FM when they're not streaming those songs they love.

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The answer is "almost everyone". Somewhere around 1 in 3 Americans use a streaming service at least once a month, and well over 90% of Americans use broadcast radio at least once a week, and according to Nielsen the average American spends about 12 hours a week with broadcast radio. I couldn't find a similar TSL stat for streaming services.