rich2341- JMHO, the industry needs both stocks to propell the concept. The issue is concept acceptance, obviously without good subscription #s, since neither company makes radios, or has much advertisement revenue, it will be a concept acceptance/cash burn issue while they build subscribers.
So far the # of subscribers for XM was about 30k, from its rollout in Nov, til the first week in 02. Additional XM subs are estimated at 17k for Jan 02, and xm's projected 1st qtr sub #s are 70K thru Mar. If they continue to have sucess with subs then this will rocket. The capital expenditure was phenominal and the breakeven is estimated at 4M subs,
but after this is reached, in an estimated market of 48M, well, you can do the math!
Siri_ has their regional rollout this week I believe, 3 or 4 cities - They are in a somewhat more precarious position at the moment, due to continual delays they are now seen as about 9-12 months behind XM. If however their planned rollout goes off without issue, which I think it will, and the reception is good with no chip issues, then they will be well on their way. They are scheduled to have Ford, Jag, BMW and others for the Auto oem installers in the year 03. Siri's breakeven # of subs is 25% less than XM's, it is placed at 3M subs.
**Acceptance of the concept, and time to market are key issues for both companies, jmho.
I have owned both but currently only xm. Siri is price wise about where XM was a few months back if you review the charts. So it may very well be a very good play once the chip issue is settled for sure. These stocks are very volatile as you have said and are fun to be involved with, since they are truly the cutting edge for the industry!
Both stocks need subscriptions, but the concept is fantastic and I love my XM.
Good Luck,
john
