It’s early days but it is here. And Mark Ramsey looks (not so very far) ahead at what it means for radio stations:

“In the world of mobile radio, our distribution is currently both universal and exclusive. But when “the box” belongs to a third party, we are assured of neither easy distribution nor universal access. The “box owners” will do what Apple does with iTunes: Yes, anyone can post a podcast. But a very few are “featured” while most are not. The “filters” control the value. And in this scenario you and I are no longer the filters.”

I think it’s just very hard for most radio folks to believe that their listeners would listen to another station if they could. If a market has three radio stations, one might be pop…another country…and one doing news/talk. The listening pie is nicely divided, everybody gets a pretty good slice.

When all cars have high-speed net access (and they will), your station won’t be one of a hand full of listening options, it will be one of hundreds.