Apple to kill Sirius XM this summer.

Well, that's the rumor anyway.

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Satellite radio will die soon anyway, but Apple will accidentally perform a mercy killing of Sirius XM Radio this summer. That is, if the rumors are true (and they probably are).

The first rumor is that Apple will ship in June or July a new iPhone and a new iPod Touch, both of which containing a new Broadcom BCM4329 chip that would give the gadgets 802.11n wireless. That would boost Wi-Fi, but even more interestingly enable the devices to broadcast music to any car stereo via FM. (Users simply set their car radios to the "station" that the iPhone or iPod is broadcasting on, and they can play over car speakers whatever the iPhone is playing. The feature would enable only buyers of new iPhones and new iPod touches to play audio in any car with an FM radio.

The second rumor is that both devices will get stereo Bluetooth audio streaming. That would enable anyone with a car sound system that supports Bluetooth to play iPhone and iPod Touch audio wirelessly. Although using this feature would require the right kind of car stereo, it would not require a new iPhone or iPod Touch — current devices will be able to take advantage of it.

It's likely that both of these rumors are true. If so, just about every iPhone and iPod Touch user will be able to easily play music, podcasts, streaming audio and other noise directly but wirelessly from their gadgets.

One of the most popular (and fastest growing) application types on iPhones is Pandora and its ilk, including iheart radio, Public Radio and other streaming services. People are getting used to the idea of listening to exactly what they want to hear at any time on their phones.

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