Ten Years After: Dab in Europe （3）

Published:2011/8/4 22:37:00 Author:Li xiao na From:SeekIC

By Hans Weber

The receiver market

The end-user market is divided into four major segments. The first of these is car radios, which in Germany was initially regarded as the most important market segment- Prices in this segment are relatively stable. The market leader. Blaupunkt. offers its Woodstock 53 (!) model for 579 euros. The Grundig Allixx is somewhat less expensive at 399 euros. Prices do not van- much from one country to the next. Only the UK is again slightly ahead of the curve, with a model (Goodmans) available for less than 200 pounds.

The situation with mobile and portable receivers is different. In the UK. the market is dominated by small, inexpensive receivers that can only receive Band III. Portable receivers are available starting at around 70 pounds. By contrast, prices in Germany maintained a lower limit of approximately 200 euros until recently. This situation changed at the CeBIT exhibition, where TechniSat presented a pair of lower-priced receivers: the DAB-Man for 169.99 euros and. for home use. the Digit-Radio DAB for 159.99 euros. Visitors to the CeBIT could also admire the first combined DAB/DRM receiver, the Starwaves Prelude. This receiver, which is made by a small manufacturer in Hanover, will not become commercially available until late this year. The price is said to be ’in the high three-figure’ euro range.

In Germany. DAB tuners for hi-fi systems are still the domain of die high-end manufacturers, such as Restek.

Particularly demanding listeners can spend as much as 2700 euros for such a DAB tuner, while in the UK an Acoustic Solutions DAB/FM tuner for stereo systems can be obtained for as little as 115 pounds. Computer-based DAB radios, by contrast, are scarce. The only model available in all countries is the TerraTec DR Box 1 (300 euros or about 210 pounds).

What about the future?

In Germany, DAB has been pronounced dead once already. Presently, the situation can be regarded as being more positive. It appears that prices could again drop in the near future: the Anglo-Israeli company Sonarics is offering their CSM DAB module for USS 25, and the Analog Devices Blackfin DSP, which allows DAB functionality to be implemented in software, is available at 5 dollars in large quantities. At last, the large manufacturers (in particular Sony) are indicating their willingness to enter the market. In parallel with this, promotional efforts are being increased and coordinated under the direction of Initiative Marketing Digital Radio (IMDR). In any case, in Germany hopes are now being pinned on a "soft transition’ instead of a "breakthrough". The demand that VHF radio broadcasting simply be stopped by 2015 (or even earlier) has now been dropped.

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