Sirius XM Joins the In-Car Streaming Music Battle In a sign of how the sands beneath the broadcast and music businesses continue to shift, satellite radio is joining the streaming music market in the car. Sirius XM will now offer in-dash access to its Internet Radio App in Ford vehicles with the Sync AppLink. In briefings ahead of Tuesday's announcement, Ford and Sirius XM said the app support would, for the first time, allow subscribers to use the Sirius XM Internet radio app on iPhones and Android handsets, making it possible to stream not only satellite channels but also personalized MySXM channels and on-demand programs like Howard Stern's. The services were already available online through a Web browser, but this is Sirius's first full-fledged offering of streaming Internet services in cars. Drivers can switch between programs using the car's built-in controls and voice commands. Furthermore, should a Sirius XM subscriber find himself in a Ford vehicle with AppLink but without satellite radio hardware, he can still tune in to his music via the app. "The connected car allows us to take our services to a whole other level and expand from a one-way service to an interactive service," said David Frear, Sirius XM's chief financial officer. Sirius XM will have plenty of streaming-music competition on Ford Sync dashboards, which already include Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify, Slacker and Mog. There are also traditional radio stations offering streaming channels through TuneIn, plus independent station apps and Clear Channel's iHeartAuto, which streams more than 800 stations from 150 cities. Terrestrial radio stations are increasingly trying to attract online listeners and stave off competition from the likes of Internet-only services like Pandora and Mog. For Sirius XM, the new connection to the dash is less of a "if you can't beat "em, join "em" strategy than a way of keeping existing subscribers happy. Listeners still have to pay $14.49 a month for the service plus $3.50 a month for the app (or $14.49 a month for Internet-only service). But by providing more listening options with the satellite app, the company hopes to remove some of the temptation its subscribers might have to tune in to Pandora or Spotify when they want to listen to specific programming.