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Sprint Adds More Smartphones With Enabled FM Chip

The Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 are compatible with NextRadio app

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sprint has added two more smartphones compatible with the FM NextRadio app. The carrier has introduced the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the “rebooted” HTC One M8.

Emmis expects to see a bump in NextRadio app activations in the coming weeks, and adds that the company has seen a one-day record of nearly 5,000 app downloads since the phone’s release last week.

Emmis has a rundown of NextRadio activities from the NAB Show; on its latest blog, the company recaps mentions by NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith, noting that “NextRadio is a highly interactive experience for radio listeners on smartphones.”

HTC One M8

In his Broadcast Engineering Conference keynote, NAB EVP/CTO Kevin Gage said “Consumers are a long way from abandoning traditional broadcast media. They just want their content anytime, anywhere and on any device … There are now over a million new FM radios in mobile phones on the market that provide our consumers a re-envisioned graphical and immersive FM radio experience.”

Sprint Product Manager Scott Williams said of NextRadio, “The numbers we see from the monthly reports are going straight up,” giving the carrier more opportunities to market the app while Ford Global Head of Business Development and Partner Management Scott Burnell said customization is going to be a very important part of the vehicle going forward, and indicated NextRadio is going to be a good fit.

Yahoo tech columnist David Pogue urged radio broadcasters to promote the app, noting “it’s everything radio should be in terms of integration of the phone and radio,” And FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel praised the concept of an FM chip on her phone and said she and her colleagues would “agitate” the carriers about that, we reported.

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