This will give a larger subscriber base a chance to try XM content without going through the hassle of getting the necessary equipment. If they find the programming valuable, it would be a lot easier to sign them up. The added distribution that XM will get from this relationship will be very beneficial.

This is a service targeted at a device that millions of people are buying, and the mobile phone is a good vector for audio, but manufacturers and carriers still have to convince consumers that the phones are not just communications devices.

This also helps DirecTV. XM has established a pretty good brand out there, but XM certainly has more to gain out of this relationship.

These devices do a lot, but the message gets muddled. What are they for? The big challenge is to create a reason to watch video on a tiny screen.

We've heard it all before. We've heard so much rhetoric that this race is now anticlimactic. At this point, just show me the DVD player already.

There are promising alternatives. But there need to be integrated marketing efforts, (instead of) requiring the customer to put the package together.

Transformational ideas like the Walkman are hard to come by these days.

Vista will provide content owners with a more secure platform to deliver their premium content. However, it will take more than an operating system to turn the PC into a media hub. Creating innovative consumer experiences around premium content will help expand the market for content delivery via the PC. Vista is not the key component.