FM Radio for iPhone – Will there ever be FM Radio for iPhone?

By now, everyone knows that the iPhone is much more than just a mobile phone, it is a multimedia device for communication and entertainment. I mean, the iPhone not only has a sleek and beautiful design, but it is loaded with the latest Web 2.0 interactivity.

The iPhone is a cell phone with an mp3 player, digital camera, streaming video, Google Maps, photo storage, email, and Internet access. Wow, it looks like this smartphone has just about everything anyone could want, ie. . . except FM radio.

There was a time when the portable transistor radio was the only way a person could take their music with them wherever they went. Back in the day, this was a big draw, because radio was king and everyone could get at least two or three stations, whether they were sitting in the park, hanging out on the beach, or listening while at work.

The problem with the old-style transistor radio was that it wasn’t very nice. Everyone could hear what you were listening to, which could be detrimental in certain situations. Then comes Sony with the Sony Walkman.

Suddenly we could all listen to our favorite music on cassette tapes while on the go. This was actually quite revolutionary back in the day because most people had a decent collection of albums, but you couldn’t listen to them anywhere but on your home stereo. The boombox was inside, but it was big and cumbersome.

Sony made it popular to carry a collection of select music, in one compact unit, that wasn’t dependent on what your local DJ was playing on the radio. As the Walkman became more popular, less convenient portable radios became a thing of the past, almost. Sony makes a portable radio that is great.

The lack of a radio in the Walkman personal cassette player is directly related to today’s iPhone. It is speculated that manufacturers do not include the radio in CD players, mp3 players and the iPhone due to technical limitations and a desire to keep the units compact.

However, if the iPhone can access the Internet, why is it so difficult to also include access to the radio?

A multimedia device like the iPhone should definitely include some sort of FM radio streaming service. Although radio has been sidelined by downloaded mp3 content, there is still a large group of people who also want the option to listen to their favorite radio stations.

Apple has iTunes radio that you can easily listen to on your computer. If you’ve been there, you know how big the selection is. We now have more access to radio stations than ever before, yet we still can’t easily listen to the radio on our iPod or iPhone.

Sign.

I have to admit, there must be a practical reason why Apple didn’t include FM radio as part of iPhone apps, but so far, there’s no explanation for consumers.

Hey, but maybe there’s reason to be hopeful that this feature will be added in the future. There’s already a rumor that the next generation of the iPhone may include an app that can stream FM radio. For now, our iPhone FM radio dreams are just wishful thinking.