Frontier Silicon teams with online music services to enable $149.99 Internet radio appliances
Frontier Silicon and its OEM/ODM partners aim to bring Internet radio to the mass market with affordable prices using new hardware/software solution together with content from premium music services such as Pandora, Last.fm, Sirius and Rhapsody
Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, 8 January 2009: Frontier Silicon, a leading supplier of digital radio technology, has announced that its new hardware/software solution announced today for low cost Internet radio receivers including AM/FM tabletop radios, networked iPod/MP3 docks and clock radios will allow consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers to provide products at affordable mass market price points of under US$149.99. The inclusion of premium streaming music services such as Pandora, Last.fm, Sirius and Rhapsody as well as access to over 10,000 Internet radio stations via the Frontier Silicon portal gives consumers the ability to listen to both streaming music services as well as their own digital music library.
“Internet Radio provides a means for consumers to listen to news, sports, talk and various genres of music from all over the world. With over 15,000 stations and counting, it is unfortunate that most of this listening is still done via a PC as connected audio devices have remained relatively expensive for mass market adoption,” commented Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon. “As consumers become increasingly familiar with Internet radio and get hooked on the newer streaming music services, it’s imperative to provide end products at affordable, mass market price points under $149.99. This is what Frontier is hoping to achieve with our Venice 6.2 receiver module, working in unison with the consumer electronics brands and their manufacturing partners to easily integrate and support these services on their products and enjoy the coming growth in networked audio functionality.”
“We welcome Frontier Silicon’s support of Pandora,” added Tim Westergren, founder and chief strategy officer of Pandora, the world’s largest Internet radio service with over 20 million registered listeners. “The rapid growth of affordable, connected audio appliances is transforming the world of home audio. Frontier’s platform represents a great catalyst to bring free, personalized internet radio into the home.”
“Frontier’s platform also supports other popular services such as Last.fm, Rhapsody and Sirius XM Radio,” continued Frontier’s CEO Anthony Sethill. “We make it simple for CE brands to pick and choose the services they require for their particular target markets. By supporting these premium services, Frontier assures coverage of a 60 to 70 million user base.”
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