Sirius Radio, Welcome to the iPhone

For now, hackers and developers have figured out a way to scale Apple's security gate and get into the iPhone in order to develop programs and install them directly onto the device.

Second, the uSirius program wasn't created by Sirius, so it's not official and is prone to a few glitches. On one occasion, the program froze up and I needed to restart my iPhone. The application essentially transmits the company's Internet broadcasts, so you will still need valid Sirius account information to log in and begin streaming music. Even the hackers can't give you Sirius programming for free.

Lastly, running this program constantly over the EDGE network will rapidly kill your phone's battery. After only 30 minutes of streaming, my fully charged iPhone saw about a third of its battery power zapped. This could possibly be remedied with a new 3G iPhone, which is said to have longer battery life and a faster 3G data connection. That all remains to be seen.

Representatives from Apple did not return requests for comment about policies on iPhone hacking or forthcoming releases from its App Store. Sirius representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the uSirius program or if they have their own official iPhone application in the pipeline.

However, XM acknowledged it is taking steps of its own to create an official iPhone native application. An XM spokesman pointed to comments made during a conference in New York earlier this month by Vernon Irvin, XM's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, who mentioned that the satellite radio provider has begun work on an iPhone client for XM's service.

"It makes logical sense that an [iPhone] application from XM or Sirius would eventually exist," says RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank. "XM sort of slipped this fact out there. When it first was said no one was paying attention to it. Now, it doesn't sound like such a crazy thing."

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