Just how popular are car radios that can control Pandora or Internet Radio?
It’s a bit early to draw conclusions, but some indicators are filtering in.
Our quick poll of retailers says few consumers are coming into stores asking for the feature, BUT some retailers say that the number of interested consumers is slowly starting to rise.
Pandora or Internet Radio is offered as a feature on new car radios that can control, say Pandora, from the radio’s buttons so you don’t have to fumble with the phone while driving.
The Consumer Electronics Association predicts that approximately 6 percent of aftermarket car radios sold to retailers this year will include a form of Internet Radio and that figure will increase to about 14 percent by 2015, said the CEA.
A leading car stereo chain, Freeman’s Stereo Video said 1 in 5 people or 1 in 10 (depending on the storefront) will come in asking for Internet Radio control. “More and more people are coming in asking for it… It hasn’t hit mass demand yet. [It] may be an awareness issue,” said general manager J.R. Stocks
Jeff Pitts of the Mickey Shorr chain said, “We’re advertising Pandora quite a bit on one of our pieces , but we’re not seeing much. It’s not a huge category yet.”
Two car stereo specialist retailers–Westminster Speed & Sound and The Specialists–said people want the feature when its demonstrated, “Up till now I am not having many people coming up specifically looking for it but we have found that when people are told that it is an option, many people like it,” said Mark Miller, owner of Westminster Speed & Sound.
A second recent study was announced concluding that in the new car market, Internet Radio may be a slow starter. ABI Research said drivers in the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan and China prefer navigation over Internet Radio.
Of the 1,500 people studied, if someone had never used an infotainment service, then between 59% and 72% said they would choose navigation over Internet Radio in all countries except China, where the greatest interest was in concierge services.
“Internet Radio only showed average levels of interest among non-users, even in the US… Surprisingly email, social media, and networking integration scored very low,” said ABI’s Dominique Bonte. He notes that people may prefer navigation because they are familiar with it.
Another notable finding in the study is that those who did use Internet Radio, tended to use it frequently.
“…the high frequency of use of Internet radio among users suggests that car owners embrace new services once they have become familiar.”
Consumers in the study believed a “connected radio” with navigation or Internet Radio would cost under $700 plus $10/month service fees.
Strategy Analytics found similar results on the OEM side, but said Internet Radio may prove more successful in the aftermarket where you have more tech savvy consumers that seek out new technology.
Source: CEoutlook, ABI Research
I find that people like the idea of internet radio in their cars but were not aware of it being an option until we tell them. Being able to control it directly is not a “must have” option. Most people in our market are content with a siimple auxilliary connection to acheive this. However, with the cell companies going to tiered data plans, this may have an impact on internet radio in the car as streaming media can use a lot of data if used regularly.
Internet radio (especially Pandora)in the car is slowly but surely gaining popularity as consumer awareness increases. The interest is there, but adoption is hindered by two factors – internet radio controled by headunits is currently limited to iPhones only, and cell service providers are doing away with \"unlimited\" data plans so consumers are concerned that they will be charged per minute (or MB) to listen to their radio.
Internet radio (especially Pandora)in the car is slowly but surely gaining popularity as consumer awareness increases. The interest is there, but adoption is hindered by two factors – internet radio controled by headunits is currently limited to iPhones only, and cell service providers are doing away with “unlimited” data plans so consumers are concerned that they will be charged per minute (or MB) to listen to their radio.
good luck with the data caps looming ahead.
There is no doubt that internet radio will become a dominant player in the market, but it is really still in infancy, and I don’t think we have a clear and full picture of where it is going yet. The current players all have strengths and weaknesses, but that will get sorted out. I also think that internet radio MAY actually give a boost to satellite radio by increasing public awareness of other choices to broadcast radio. Satellite has more choices, but no “work” involved to listen to your genre of music.