Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Apple responds, says radio chip stripped from iPhones
An interesting thing happened after our Sept. 14 editorial calling for Apple CEO Tim Cook to enable radio broadcasts on iPhones.
Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, echoed our call for Apple to activate the FM chip included on most smartphones.
When activated, these chips let phones act like radios, no matter if a storm like Hurricane Irma has knocked out the power, WiFi and cell service. Pai called the switch a matter of public safety.
“As the Sun Sentinel of South Florida put it, ‘Do the right thing, Mr. Cook. Flip the switch. Lives depend on it,’ ” Pai said in a statement.
It wasn’t the first time Pai had called for the wireless industry to activate its FM chips. “In fact, in my first public speech after I became chairman, I observed that ‘you could make a case for activating chips on public safety grounds alone.’ When wireless networks go down during a natural disaster, smartphones with activated FM chips can allow Americans to get vital access to life-saving information.”
Pai applauded, as did we, the other telecommunication companies that have activated the chip, though they’d still prefer everyone used their apps, downloads and streaming services.
“Apple is the one major phone manufacturer that has resisted doing so,” he said in his Sept. 28 statement.
What happened next, however, got us scratching our heads. We started hearing from people who said we’d gotten it all wrong.
TechCrunch, a media website that covers technology, published a story under this headline: “Apple would like to remind the FCC that it can’t activate imaginary FM radios that iPhones don’t have.”
The writer, like us, had reached out to Apple. But while we heard only silence, the company gave TechCrunch a statement saying it cared deeply about the safety of its customers. That’s why you can dial emergency services or access Medical ID card information from the iPhone’s locked screen, it said, and receive weather advisories and Amber alerts, too.
As for the matter at hand — letting iPhone users access FM radio on their phones after a disaster wipes out cell servThe ice — the statement was silent, except for this: “iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models do not have FM radio chips in them nor do they have antennas designed to support FM signals, so it is not possible to enable FM reception in these products.”
Holy moly. News alert. Rather than activate the FM chip to help public safety, Apple quietly eliminated it from newer iPhone models.
What arrogance. What chutzpah. What total disregard for customers who need information after a disaster wipes out cellphone service, as happened to millions of Americans after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
For years, the National Association of Broadcasters has called for manufacturers and mobile service providers to enable the FM radio chip in smartphones sold in the U.S., as is required in other countries.
Federal Emergency Management Agency says doing so would immensely improve communications after disasters. “It is irresponsible for Apple to continue resisting this straightforward, common-sense approach to public safety,” writes former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate — a former head of Florida’s emergency management office — in a viewpoint published here today.
We tried to reach Apple again this week. A spokeswoman sent us the same statement given TechCrunch.
But we have more questions, we replied, including: “Why did Apple stop including FM radio chips in its newer iPhones?”
“We aren’t going to respond to these questions,” she responded.
The broadcasters’ association, meanwhile, says a research firm has looked into the guts of an iPhone 7 and found the chip still there. “We don’t think that they are being straight with the American people,” said spokesman Dennis Wharton.
Besides, there are nearly 100 million iPhones in the marketplace with a deactivated FM chip, the association’s research shows. Plus, Apple continues to sell an iPhone 6S with a deactivated chip.
And to its point about new iPhones not having antennas to receive radio broadcasts: Come on, Apple. Your phone mimics a computer, jukebox, camera, GPS monitor, flashlight, magnifying glass, dictation service, clock, calculator, calendar, Rolodex, piano keyboard, guitar, game station, weather center and so much more. Are you really expecting us to believe, as your statement says, “it is not possible to enable FM reception in these products?” Or is the issue more about wanting to keep people using only your services?
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs changed the world in 2007 when he introduced the iPhone. In a memorial post this year, Tim Cook, his successor, said, “The best is yet to come.”
Mr. Cook, when Hurricane Irma hit Florida, all but three of 67 counties lost power. Many people who use your product could not hear what was happening for days. Is that really the best you can do?
To us, your decision to strip the new iPhones of their ability to receive life-saving radio broadcasts is heartless and mercenary.
Your predecessor once said: “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”
Mr. Cook, you need to get closer to your customers. A lot of us no longer own battery-operated radios and a stock of D-cell batteries. But when a hurricane knocks out the power, we still want to hear what’s happening. Many of us hold your product in the palm of our hand. It has — or has had — the FM chip in it. Let us experience it. Let us hear.
Should you refuse to listen, Congress should act.
“As the Sun Sentinel of South Florida put it, ‘Do the right thing, Mr. Cook. Flip the switch. Lives depend on it.’ ” Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in a statement