Jiipe

The Consumer Electronics Show has kicked off and already we are seeing some very cool products coming out of it.

One of these is from German car stereo manufacturer, Blaupunkt, which has announced a car stereo that will allow users to listen to over 30,000 different radio stations - from small indie garage setups to the most popular with well over 5 million listeners monthly - via the internet.

Blaupunkt has partnered with Australian online radio aggregator miRoamer to bring this technology to motorists worldwide, including Australia, but there is one major stumbling block for Australian users.

The radio stations are accessed over the internet on the driver’s mobile phone via Bluetooth, which means it will use up the low quota Australians have on the data plans quickly and be very costly to users.

This isn’t a problem in the USA, where most people now have unlimited data plans for mobile web access.

It would require around 2GB per month for the average commuter listening to internet radio to and from their workplace. An amount a lot of Australians don’t have on their data plans, and would be charged high fees if they went over their monthly limit.

I guess this is yet another case where a great Australian invention is held back by the barbaric nature of the Australian telcos and their stifling of the mobile web market.

It is likely that the car radio won’t be available in Australia until 2010, so let’s hope the telcos have increased their data plans by then. It will retail for US$399 in America in the second half of this year.