Sirius XM app for Android goes live
updated 12:05 pm EDT, Fri May 28, 2010
Sirius XM hits most US Android phones today
After a brief teaser last month, Sirius XM for Android has launched on Android Market. The app provides Internet streaming of most Sirius and XM channels, and in its official release supports many more phones than promised. Along with the Droid Incredible, it should support many pre-2.0 Android phones, including the Cliq and G1 along with newer phones like the Motorola Droid, Nexus One, and Hero variants like Sprint's or the Droid Eris.
The app is free and comes with a week-long trial of service, but use afterwards requires a Premium Online subscription, which for existing Sirius or XM subscribers costs $3 on top of the regular plan. Listeners should also have the option of listening strictly online at a higher (but unpublished) rate. BlackBerry and iPhone owners already have their own apps. [images via Justin Williams]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2010
Not quite at Android Market
Hello.
This article says that SiriusXM for Android comes from the Android Market, but, at least when it was released last week, this app was clearly identified by SiriusXM as being (my words) "out of market", so that someone who wants to download it to his/her Android phone needs to check the box in Settings to allow apps that aren't in the Android Market.
I don't know why SiriusXM did this instead of going through the more open Android Market process (as compared with how "closed" Apple's iTunes Store is to apps -- Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark Fiore's "NewsToons" app being a classic example of that), so if anyone has insight into that decision, please let us all know.
Thanks,
Bram Weiser