Bloggy thing signals iPhone FM radio

Apple tunes status symbol to FM

By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 14th October 2009 19:56 GMT

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Apple is developing an FM radio application for the iPhone and the iPod touch, according to an anonymous source speaking to a blog.

Yesterday, the 9to5Mac blog told the world that Apple's radio will operate in the background on the iPhone and iPod touch while offering all the same stuff as the FM radio built into the new iPod nanos. The blog's anonymous source said that the new radio tuner might be integrated with the existing iPod app, which offers traditional iPodian tools from the iPhone and touch.

Apparently, there's a hold up in getting the new tool into the wild because Apple is working to integrate the thing with iTunes. The idea, of course, is to let you instantly purchase songs you've been listening to on the radio.

"If you like a song you are listening to on the radio (and that station supports tagging and you are in the US), you will be able to push a button and see the song (and all of the information around it) in the iTunes Mobile store," 9to5Mac says. "With another click, you'll be able to make a purchase."

As we reported last month, the latest iPod touch includes a Broadcom BCM4329 wireless chip capable of sending and receiving FM signals. And eagle-eyed fanbois have noticed references to the Broadcom chip in the boot script for beta versions of Apple's new iPhone 3.1 software. ®

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