by Demian Russian
Sirius XM (SIRI) and Apple (AAPL) continue to join forces. In an exclusive interview with Satwaves, Joe Caltabiano, Audiovox’s (VOXX) National Sales Manager of the Satellite Radio Division disclosed that Sirius XM’s SkyDock will be available for sale in the nation’s Apple retail stores. Mr. Caltabiano says, “Within the next couple of weeks you’re going to see these things popping up on shelves at the Apple stores all around the country.” He describes the new relationship with Apple as a “nice strong partnership” and a “meeting of the minds.” “They’re very excited about it and we’re excited about it, and it’s been a long time coming”, he said.
As I first predicted back in May, Sirius XM’s SkyDock accessory can turn every Apple iPhone and iPod Touch out on the street into a full-fledged satellite radio, capable of receiving the full satellite line up — including the NFL, MLB and Howard Stern. With over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches already sold, there is a huge opportunity for Sirius XM to expand its subscriber base outside of the OEM channel. The Apple retail store exposure will bring Sirius XM to a whole new demographic, many of whom may have never heard of satellite radio before. While satellite radio’s retail channel sales have remained flat for the last couple of years, the SkyDock’s release combined with this new Apple retail partnership promises to be a game changer for Sirius XM.
There simply isn’t a better place for Sirius XM to be going into this coming holiday shopping season. The nation’s Apple stores see the highest sales per square foot in all of retail. In spite of the challenging economic environment, Apple’s retail stores have shown a 22% increase in traffic this last year. Apple reported 38.6 million visitors to its stores in just this last quarter alone. Although Apple doesn’t breakdown per store figures, Jeffrey Roseman, executive vice president of real-estate broker Newmark Knight Frank Retail estimates that Apple’s New York Fifth Avenue store “probably has annual sales of more than $350 million.” That equates to about $1 million in sales a day. Looking at it another way, it’s the equivalent of selling one Mercedes Benz C300 per square foot or the value of Britain’s annual GDP per-capita in every square foot. Apple has 258 retail stores, with 25 more stores to open in fiscal 2009.
In years past, Sirius XM has had problems getting enough product out to meet demand going into the critical holiday shopping season. Audiovox promises to change all of that. Joe Caltabiano promises that they are more than capable of meeting demand this time around. “I can comfortably say that we will have enough product to supply all the channels of distribution…..we are ahead of the curve” he said. When asked about what kind of accompanying advertising support can be expected going into the holidays, he stated that “you’re going to be seeing satellite radio just about everywhere.”
Sirius XM’s SkyDock officially released this last weekend and the free app required to make it work has been available on Apple’s iTunes since October 11th.
Position: Long Sirius XM
Contact the Author: DemianRussian@satwaves.com
This is HUGE! Tagging onto a marketing juggernaut like Apple can not help but put new subscriptions on the books for SIRI. This product also makes them money at the sale, and has other utility to the consumer, so it should sell briskly in the Christmas season as well.
Advertising support from Apple is a major plus, above the simple availability in the stores. Apple is in touch with their market and their customer base like few retailers. A major boost for SIRI should come from this alliance.
so i STILL dont understand why we arent hearing this directly from Sirius/XM marketing dept(do they have one still?) and instead hearing info like this from a supplier–They are going to blow this if they dont market the hell out of sat radio, not just the SkyDock for the upcoming holiday season–How about tv ads, newspaper and new portable colorful displays that hold the new receivers/skydock so that product gets out of the back room audio area of Best Buy etc..
Anyone see any signs yet or should we be talking a week before black friday again??
maybe because they are getting free marketing elsewhere…like here and AMAZON, which is sending out mass emails to all former electronics consumers about the rock n rewards program
http://www.satwaves.com/forum/download/file.php?id=2378&mode=view
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_17090_13368660_fe_txt_1/?docId=1000431981
I was in Radio Shack last night (6:00PM Sunday) and Sirius XM products, including Skydock, were prominently displayed in the front of the store. The salesperson I spoke with was extremely enthusiatic and knowledgeable about all these products and he definitely believes there will be substantial customer demand through the holiday season. The store has already ordered additional products in all these categories, as they have sold their original supply and customers are asking repeatedly about Sirius (in some cases, as a replacement for Pandora). I was also given two very eye catching and professionally done marketing brochures/pamplets for these products. I came away impressed with this one store’s level of commitment to Sirius XM – hopefully, this is representative of the demand that will be seen across the nation.
I stopped by my local Best Buy yesterday (Metro Washington DC Area) to see if there was going to be any hoopla about the release of the SkyDock. I was very disappointed to discover that there was Zero hoopla. In fact, the Skydock wasn’t even on display anywhere in the store even @ the back room audio area! There were 3 skydocks in the locked case under the display though.
Has anyone seen the product in the Apple Stores? Any hoopla ?
they HAVE been advertising on the baseball playoff games over the last week and are doing so in what seem to be a fiscally prudent way as the ads are targeted and timely and i believe 15- 20sec. in length as they build toward xmas! go siri..
I hope tomorrow we start seeing the pump for this product when it comes to advertising. I’m tired of showing my co-workers on you tube the SkyDock ad. I should be getting payed for this since they might drop the ball just like the past!!!!!! I’m not holding my breath waiting for Sirius’s advertising dept to turn off their best of breed romulan cloaking device off…….Frustrated Long
I want to offer some circumstantial evidence of probable positive influence for SIRI over the near to intermediate term: 1. Mel Karmazin’s recent comments at an investor conference regarding no plans for a reverse split any time soon, coupled with his favorable comments about demand through cash for clunkers and new products coming on line, strike me as “hints” about the tone of the upcoming 3rd Qtr. release (in the absence of more specific comments that would have been permissable before Sarbanes-Oxley). I was reminded of this in the way Eric Schmidt was dropping hints about Google before their most recent quarterly release. 2. James E. Mayer, President of Operations and Sales at Sirius XM, was just given an extended contract to 5/1/13 at a salary of $950,000.00, along with an option grant of 25,184,984 shares at a price of .57, to be vested in 4 equal installments (10/14/10, 11, 12, and 13). This is a powerful incentive to perform, and a vote of confidence in the future – in my opinion. 3. The Street.com has recently announced the results of a poll of over 1700 voters, with 73% stating they would recommend holding SIRI even if delisting were to occur (an event which will certainly not happen). However – this 73% result tells you that a vast majority of investors now feel Risk/Reward definitely warrants holding SIRI, as upside potential greatly outweights downside exposure. I view this result also as saying most investors feel SIRI will trade above 1.00 by the March 2010 date at which time Nasdaq compliance terms would come into play (also could be extended through petition, if needed). So – most investors are now viewing the run to 1.00 as plausible and this would be a .40 gain on top of the .60 level that prevailed as of Friday’s close. This equates to a gain of .666 (67%) within six months – an annualized rate of 133%. Tell me another opportunity in the markets that now comes close to Sirius XM.
I was in the Apple store in manhattan midtown (the one that does 350 million in sales) on sat morning and spoke to one of the associates and he was aware they would be selling the skydock but they did not have any inventory as of then.
@Gary
There was an ad for sirius during both game 1 and game 2 of ALCS baseball. it was very cleverly done as a banner at the top of the TV in the 7th inning. It was blue and scrolled through the verbal description of what sirius was. I loved it and it must have been seen by a lot of people watching the yankees beat the Angels.
Long Sirius, long yankees
Fox news just reported that the Sirius Ad Execs that have been trapped underground for years, may make one last attempt to escape and put together a thorough campaign showing the highlights of Sirius vs the competition. It may be hard to explain to the public that radio is not the only game in town in 2009 and you can listen to thousands of songs(for a small monthly fee) vs paying .99 for one.
This is terrific news for Sirius Xm. To have a product that connects and enhances the technological wonder of the iPhones and Ipods to satellite radio and that maximizes Sirius Xm s exposure to a huge new and growing consumer base, as well as to Apple’s brilliance and effective advertising is phenomenal. This is a huge new avenue of growth across the board well into the future that goes beyond its auto subscriptions, but it’s going to be terrific when the road of U.S. auto sales recovery intersects with this SiriusXm and Apple partnership. It will be exponential and it will finally recover from the initial impact of the time and cost of the merger going into this brutal recession. It’s equity will increase in value, the shorts will move on, Wall Street will finally and justifiably get on board, there will be legitimate upgrades in analysts’ views, and this company can tackle its debt head on and benefit from a huge injection of capitalization despite the high number of shares. It still doesn’t make sense that the public relations and investor relations and marketing and advertising team at Sirius Xm don’t take advantage of a release date of the SkyDock to release a statement regarding this important date through the mainstream media. It’s relatively straight-forward. Apple is not transparent in their release of new products (actually, a wonderful way to keep revenue constant and an advertising version of preventing creative destructionism as their technology builds on itself and supercedes itseld regularly in technology and design and by not giving the consumer advance notice encourages consumers to buy what’s in front of them instead of waiting for new releases.), so I wonder if in regards to the SkyDock release SiriusXm might have agreed to abide by Apple’s marketing and advertising philosophy and strategy – the less news the more anticipation there is, which is good, but I hope that once it’s in the marketplace and in the Apple stores, that Sirius Xm, really puts together a more visible, more exposed advertising campaign strategy. But all of this news is good, and I’m looking forward to the new positive picture continuing to take shape coming into the 3 Quarter earnings. Cash-For-Clunkers will give it a terrific boost and off-set a drop in September auto sales, which made sense after a huge July and August with the government incentives. There won’t be a need for a reverse split at this rate. Thanks.
i also do think its cool to have your iphone saved songs play thru your car speakers system–maybe calls too? interesting but Best buy is the big man on campus so displays have to be in front by high traffic areas to get noticed and in Apple areas
I was at my local best buy, Hamburg New York.
They had 12 on hand on display!
@RMAN
go back next week and see how many they have…that’s the key
I visited a Radio Shack in Westhcester NY, and they had a good display of the SKYDOCK. It was a big display right near the ipod accessories. On the display you could pick up a little booklet about the skydock. They had a replica skydock on display also, next to older SIRIUS radios. Best Buy still has SKYDOCK in the back in the satelite section. Being in the Apple store is nice, but Apple retail stores are few and far in between. I don’t know the ratio, but the ratio of radio shacks to apple stores , or best buy to apples stores is huge as far as number of stores. This may account for “highest sales per square foot in all of retail” I live in the NYC area and there is a Radio Shack or Best Buy within 15-20 minutes of just about everyone…Apple retail stores are not that easily found. All of the people I know with ipods or iphones didnt get them from the Apple store. Most won’t go to the apple store for accessories either. Best Buy, Radio Shack,and all other retail stores that sell electronics is where the majority of these devices will be sold. Also, this product needs to become a purchase that people go to the store to buy, not something that they happen to notice in an apple store display. Many here are forgetting the fact that SIRIUS XM is about the content, not the device. People ust be made aware of the great content on SIRIUS XM and create a big demand for the content. Then people will be happy that they can get that content on whatever gadget they need, ie skydock. Trying the reverse: Sell a great device and then have people discover content is a losing strategy.
The reason ipods sell well is because the demand for them is high, not because they are sold in a “high traffic” retail store. Ipods sell well in Apple stores, Best Buy, where ever they are sold. I would think that even Apple sells more ipods, iphones outside of their own retail stores. Bottom line is,let’s not get too excited about SKYDOCK being sold with the other 200 accessories at the apple stores. When a “buzz” is created about the great content of SIRIUS XM then SKYDOCK, ONYX, STRATUS 6, etc..will fly off the shelf…Until then people will “discover” SIRIUS XM in their new cars as usual.
SKYDOCK is featured on radioshack.com, similar display is in store….
Just received an extremely well done marketing tri-fold from Sirius Satellite Radio – detailing all pertinent information I would need or want, with regard to my current subscription and annual charges – including annual US Music Royalty fee of $21.79 – and complete description 0f all content and special features. This tri-fold is eye catching and a very effective promotional form of communication – I am impressed. Having produced many of these in the past, I recognize the marketing expertise that went into this – in terms of message content, visual apparance, format, etc. For those of us who have been concerned about lack of marketing effort and expertise in the past, I would suggest this now seems to fit in with all other developments we have been seeing over the last few weeks that suggest Sirius XM is getting its house in order.
@JERROLD WILLIAMS
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Jerrold. I just checked this out and see that Radioshack.com is really featuring SkyDock in a very prominent location with photo and commentary on their title page. Well done – should certainly generate interest.
online last night, a very nice Radioshack/Skydock ad appreared. Simple and elegant and informative.
I’m not sure where Audiovox ships out of, but if it is on the East Coast, then it would make sense that the North East stores would have their inventory ahead of Central or West Cost. There could be a 5 – 7 day lag if shipping across the coast, so likely within next week to 10 days, all stores will be filled.
1 month before black friday is nice.
@MDSTDEN
I discovered exactly the same thing from the Thousand Oaks, CA store. However this was on Friday the 16th (before official launch time).
Does it seem like appl is viewing this as a win win or is this just another device that means little to them?
Just called up Yahoo Finance for SIRI. A large and very impressive ad appeared from Radio Shack featuring the SkyDock for $119.99. This ad ran vertically along the side of all news postings for SIRI on the site.
@Kevin
It is hard to say, since we haven’t seen any of the “partnership” results that this site has mentioned as of yet. It will be interesting, due to Apple having a “partnership” with many other devices, manufactures and application developers. When they make a tv commercial featuring the SKYDOCK, that is when you know this device is important to the comapany. I think they would also offer a bundled product such as an ipod touch and skydock at a discount. Best Buy has already started doing this on their web site (save $20.00 off skydock). There has been some debate over the “partnership”. In my opinion, if there is a partnership, we will see some APPLE tv commercials featuring the SKYDOCK. XM radio as an app for apple can be a very powerful marketing tool. They can take some of their biggest exclusive personalities and channels and say, there is an app for that…ie..Oprah, baseball, nfl, Jamie Foxx, Howard Stern, Chris Russo….There can be targeted adds….example chris russo during sports….Oprah during “wife” shows, etc…That kind of “partnership” will be HUGE. A cardboard display in an Apple store…not so much….in my opionion…..With this SKYDOCK….This makes the ipod touch the best mp3 player on the market…without question. It already was, but with this dock, they can offer something no other mp3 player can match….exclusive live content available anywhere in the country in your car. No need to download 10,000 songs if you dont want to..
All of this should keep sentiment positive into the 4th Qtr. release in February, as the revenue impact will not be seen in the upcoming 3rd Qtr. release due November 5. This is all favorable for SIRI, as markets are now likely to look beyond this 3rd Qtr release in the belief that major develpments such as the Apple relationship and continuing auto resurgence will remain primary drivers of sentiment well into 2010. SIRI should continue to trade from technical strength over the foreseeable future given this fundamental backdrop.
SKYDOCK is going to rock Christmas Sales – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. SkyDock is creating the bridge between Iphone – Ipod owners and satellite radio. THis is huge.
Where is the media on this wonderfully exciting news for SIRI?! They sure where quick to post piece after piece on hints of bankruptcy and any lost subscribers. Now that quantifiable numbers (Audiovoxx predicting minimum 300,000) & other positive news (SKYDOCK, etc.) is being projected, they seem to have disappeared. These new developments are very substantial and positive. Even Seeking Alpha hasn’t posted one of these most recent articles written by the team at Satwaves.
Again I ask, where is the media?!
All my wall street fans if your up in the stands say” ooh ooh ooh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
once again, wheres the direct sirius pr machine
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33385569
Anxiety Grows Over Giving Traders ‘Naked Access’
The practice of brokers giving high-frequency traders unfettered access to the U.S. stock markets is raising anxiety among industry players who fear the risks it poses and the damage that could be done to their own reputations.
Traders at the New York Stock Exchange.
Brokers, traders and exchanges have in the last few weeks grown increasingly frank about the possibility that a high-frequency trader’s computer algorithm could go haywire, unleashing in the blink of an eye thousands of orders that could push firms over the edge and rattle the wider marketplace.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing the practice, known as sponsored naked access, where a brokerage with an exchange membership rents its identification badge to a nonmember trading firm, which is then able to shave valuable milliseconds from the time it takes to access markets.
“You really have these guys going into the marketplace with loaded guns,” Lou Matrone, sales trader at agency trading firm JonesTrading, which does not provide sponsored access, told an industry conference last week. “Do we really know the risk?”
Several of those at the Security Traders Association conference said they expect the SEC to in the next couple of months set rules that would bring some order to the patchwork of oversight used by brokers and the dozens of trading venues.
* Slideshow: Twenty Stocks With the Potential to Drop
Many endorsed more robust pre-trade monitoring, as opposed to post-trade, which would likely frustrate the independent high-frequency trading firms, whose numbers have exploded in the last few years to dominate electronic market-making, as exchanges aggressively went electronic.
That delay could be a worthwhile trade-off if it saves the exchange-traded cash markets from a computer-sparked crisis that could paint its reputation with the same brush that has blackened the private over-the-counter markets, seen as the core of last year’s financial crisis.
“It’s dangerous, it’s going to be regulated, Washington is looking at that. We all know that. If there is a problem it taints everybody in this room,” Andrew Silverman, managing director and co-head of electronic trading at Morgan Stanley , told the conference held in Scottsdale, Arizona.
James Brigagliano, the SEC’s co-acting director of trading and markets, said last month naked access is “a front-burner concern for this fall to work to approve stated controls.”
Before or After?
So far, a proposal by Nasdaq Stock Market parent Nasdaq OMX for new pre-trade rules has formed the basis for the naked access debate, attracting several letters to the SEC.
RELATED LINKS
Current DateTime: 01:04:14 20 Oct 2009
LinksList Documentid: 33385574
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But there is a counterpush for post-trade oversight rules, from both high-frequency firms and those that provide naked access — and who worry they could lose clients if oversight is bulked up before orders reach markets.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp, which runs the main clearinghouse for U.S. equities, told Reuters this month a handful of firms asked it to act as market-wide monitor of position limits for sponsored firms.
“I don’t think it’s a bad backstop, but I don’t think it solves the issue,” Joseph Mecane, executive vice president of U.S. markets at Big Board parent NYSE Euronext, said of the DTCC-related plan in an interview last week.
“There is a speed advantage to not having … risk management procedures, so I can understand the demand for naked sponsored access, and for wanting to keep providing it,” he said. “But that just leads to more risk in the system.”
To be sure, brokers, exchanges and high-frequency traders already have many-layered procedures place to monitor risk. The exchanges provide brokers real-time reports on clients’ positions, while trading algorithms invariably have extensive risk checks.
Dan Weingarten, senior VP of U.S. sales and marketing at Pension Financial, which provides sponsored access, told the conference: “It’s our fine on the line, it’s our reputation on the line, and we take that very seriously.”
Still, open acknowledgment of a potentially major algo malfunction appears to be growing.
“We’ve seen a number of instances where algorithms have gone wild,” John Malitzis, VP of market surveillance at NYSE’s oversight body, said last month. “This is something that is happening not only in the U.S., but … around the world.”
High-frequency trading — where banks, hedge funds, and independent shops use sophisticated software to profit from market imbalances — is estimated to account for more than half of all U.S. equities trade.
The proportion of that done via naked access is unclear, with one speaker at the conference, Lime Brokerage Executive Vice President George Hessler, estimating it at “well into … a double digit percentage of the market.”
New naked access rules represent the least onerous of possible changes that could limit high-frequency trading, which itself is being studied by the SEC.
Others are new rules to curb short selling and a new transaction tax, such as the one floated in Washington this month by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
It would be nice if the FM modulator let the iPhone be used as a speaker/car phone as well, but I guess it might let the Bluetooth integration take care of that.
Hey Brandon,
The Skydock is now on the Apple Store webpage!! First page in the Staff Picks section…
You should throw a quick article or update together…google usually links your posts to the finance page.