Apple (AAPL) iPhone May Get FM Tuner

The devilishly clever engineers at Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have apparently discovered another way to sell songs though the iTunes store.

Apple appears to be developing an FM tuner that will run on the iPhone and some iPod models. According to the site “9 to 5 Mac”, the new feature will allow Apple customers to click on a song that they are listening to on the radio and immediately buy it from the iTunes store.

The news is another example of why Apple has developed such a large lead in terms of features and functions compared with competition from Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Samsung, and RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM). These other companies have created highly advanced hardware for their smartphones but their software-based products are limited.

The question that every smartphone company has to ask itself is how it can possibly catch up to Apple in the applications business.  Apple now has more than 85,000 apps available at its online store and the store has already delivered two billion downloads.

The answer to the question about how the competition can catch Apple in the app business is that they can’t.

Douglas A. McIntyre