Times like these…


February 24, 2006. It’s been an interesting day, to put it lightly.

Mobile phones were being whipped out all day, with people receiving and forwarding tidbits of news. “State of Emergency declared!” “Randy David arrested!” Stuff like that.

Those with mobile WiFi devices were logging onto the INQ7 news site until, by midday, it was already congested. Fortunately there was also Google News, the BBC and the CNN websites, thank heavens.

But life went on. At least as far as our haunt at the Hinge Inquirer offices was concerned. We had our meetings, people worked on their respective publications, and we joked and talked and wondered what in the world was going on. Everybody was hungry for news.

Times like these, I end up wondering… why in the world don’t mobile phones come with AM tuners? AM radio, after all, is still the most efficient way to get the latest breaking local news anywhere. Unfortunately, all phones with tuners thus far only come with FM alone.

Sometime last year, we asked Nokia’s dashing country general manager PB Bhasin if we will ever see a Nokia phone with an AM radio, and he replied that AM radio is primarily a Philippine phenomenon, and so we can’t expect to see regionally-targeted phones to carry these.

Here’s what I think though — there’s a big potential market for phones with AM tuners here. And the size of the potential market would be lucrative enough for any phone manufacturer brave enough to pay a little extra attention to the needs of our market. Because I’ve done studies before, and what I’ve uncovered was that AM radio is no longer just a broad market’s tool — a surprising number of upper-income folks listen to AM radio while on the road.

Many senior businessmen who are stuck in traffic are opting for AM news over FM music. And there’s a good chance that this would imply that even high-end phones may benefit from having integrated AM tuners. Heck, right now I wish my phone had AM radio.

Hmmm. Perhaps I should just hunt for a cheap, mobile AM tuner to while me over for now.

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February 24th, 2006
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
gabriel
Posted on:
2/25/2006 at 9:38 am

I definitely wished i had an am tuner on my phone yesterday. instead i had to resort to bugging my gf to text me news and getting what info i can from short taxi trips and talking with the drivers. Situations like yesterday gives you the feeling that fm stations are apathetic, going on with their radio promos and djs discussing relationships and entertainment while so much more dramatically important stuff was going on.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Adel Gabot
Posted on:
2/26/2006 at 11:44 am

I’m just fortunate that I’m field testing a Blackberry 7100c at the moment, with push technology and fast GPRS that I could stay online and updated from literally anywhere with a Globe signal, and surf the news sites on the web without any difficulty.

Still, I agree AM radio on a cell phone is a great idea for news junkies and Neil Ocampo fans like me.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Migs
Posted on:
2/28/2006 at 1:04 pm

We need: AM tuner + fallback to two-way radio technology in case the cellsites go down.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Allan
Posted on:
3/5/2006 at 10:04 am

Cell phone manufacturers look at the marketability of that feature when they decide to include it in their products, and let’s face it, am radio is not that appealing or a wow factor in products these days. Though it would really be practical, with all the other media forms available, news can be gathered from anywhere at anytime. It would be good to include it in a cell phone with the current trend to convergence and everything, but the likelyhood of it becoming a reality is dim.

Heck, even when I had am available at the office for news, the first place i’d look for breaking news is the internet instead of listening to the radio. Now, that’s my bad, but it just goes to show how under appreciated am is now a days with modern technology around. I’m speaking of the city scenario coz I know it’s totally different in the province.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Louie Victor
Posted on:
3/8/2006 at 12:04 pm

Another way to go about it which may be more feasible is to persuade FM stations to vary their broadcast content specially during emergency situations i.e. declaration of state emergency, etc. I am not sure about the mandate of FM Stations when it comes to programming content but if this could be hurdled, then everyone will benefit.