The other day I was driving home listening to Stern on Sirius and I hit a patch of bad reception.  As happens from time to time, and especially when I’m heading home on I-280.  And I started thinking about how much better it is listening to Sirius at work when I’m listening over the internet and I never lose reception.  So then I started thinking….With 3G cell phone service expanding in the US, and more and more phones soon to support 3G the coverage should only improve.

That thought then brought me to the device.  Companies like Broadcom and Infineon are already developing cheaper and cheaper 3G chips, and there’s no downside to the power draw, since your car will be powering the device.  So why wouldn’t aftermarket stereo companies like Alpine or Kenwood look into adding 3G chips to their head units?  It seems like a win for almost everyone.  XM and Sirius can keep their subscription model, and authenticate from the IMEI number of the device and allow for it to receive their broadcast.  The infrastructure is already in place, and they could either partner with someone like AT&T that is spending money hand over first on improving their 3G network, or they could go the MVNO route and become a provider themselves that buys minutes wholesale and use them to broadcast.  

If successful, XM and Sirius could actually move away entirely from the satellite broadcast model (speaking very long term) and broadcast strictly via internet.

It’s a thought anyways.