Nathan Skid

Jake Sigal's Ira radio (right) sells for $150 through the Web site for Myine Electronics L.L.C. Signal is negotiating to get Internet radio receiver into stores. View larger photo

In the endless search for the next big thing in consumer electronics, 27-year-old entrepreneur Jake Sigal is aiming for the bull's-eye.

Sigal's Ira Wi-Fi Internet Radio, launched online last month, has brought him about $100,000 in sales. He's currently in negotiations with bricks-and-mortar U.S. retailers and says he's on track to gross $5 million by year's end.

The concept is simple: the Ira is a lot like a traditional radio, but it broadcasts the myriad stations available online, On Demand music content and podcasts.

Sigal's motto — and the precept behind Ferndale-based parent company Myine Electronics L.L.C. — is “get less,” and that's a driving concept behind the Ira.

The Ira is a standalone unit, with minimal setup, that works independently of a computer. And that's all it does — no MP3s, no photo collections, no e-mails, no phone calls, unlike other devices that broadcast streaming electronics.

There are about 11,000 Internet radio stations broadcasting free content, Sigal said. About 69 million Americans listened to online radio last year, while just 30 percent of people over age 45 own an MP3 player, he said, citing a report by Edison Research of Somerville, N.J.

That's the market niche Sigal hopes to fill.

“Most people have Wi-Fi in their homes,” Sigal said. “They use it for e-mail, the Web, eBay... that's it. If we're already in a recession, and they're already paying $60 a month for the Internet, why not get more out of it? It seemed like a natural fit.”

Products like Sigal's enter a growing market, said Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis at the Arlington, Va.-based Consumer Electronics Association.

“Obviously, consumers love choice,” Koenig said. “(With Internet radio), they have access to more content than they can wrap their arms around.”

A strong showing in online sales — the Ira is sold through the Myine site, on Amazon.com and on National Public Radio's online store — can help an unknown company make a case for placement with major bricks-and-mortar retailers, Koenig said.

“Why is it important to make that case? There is no shortage of companies vying for that limited shelf space,” he said. “Selling product online is one way you can demonstrate demand and say, "I've been selling 500 units a month from my own site. If we get this product on your shelf, it can drive a lot of business.' The way a lot of these companies can come to market is establishing demand through online sales.”

Myine will launch a second device, the Abbee, before the holidays.

Sigal describes the Abbee as “Tivo for the radio.” It records hours of FM radio and stores the content to a portable device that allows playback with commercials and disc jockey chatter removed.

Sigal is quick to note that neither Ira nor the Abbee are just for older, low-tech consumers. But the products are designed for ease of use.

“The last thing people need is to have to go back to the store” for additional components to make a new tech product work, he said. “It has to pass the "my parents' test. My parents are smart, but they haven't spent their time keeping up with technology.”

Sigal is a Columbus, Ohio, native with a master's degree from the University of Ohio.

He's worked at Hollywood, Fla.-based Stanton Magnetics, a key name in turntables, followed by a stint at Cumberland, R.I.-based Ion Audio and Numark Industries L.L.C., where he helped invent the USB turntable. It's a device that allows users to electronically transfer LPs to a computer.

Sigal came to Detroit for a job at Troy-based Delphi Corp. as a product line manager for the supplier's XM Satellite Radio development division.

With the XM/Sirius Satellite

Radio merger on the horizon, he knew it was the right time to make a move.

Sigal knew he wanted to launch his own company but wasn't sure about the product he'd make.

So he went to the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, looking for a niche that wasn't filled. He honed in on Internet radio and had the genesis of the Ira within six months.

After that, it was a matter of finding the capital to launch the product. But persuading investors to back a high-tech product in the midst of a recession was no easy task.

“People want to invest in something they understand,” he said.

Sigal said that starting Myine has taken an initial investment of $1 million, funded by angel investors from outside Michigan.

But the recession has helped Sigal, too.

It cost about $250,000 to bring the Ira and the Abbee to market because Sigal was able leverage downtime at factories and excess engineering capacity to keep costs down. And that helped him keep the price point for the Ira lower than comparable products.

Products such as Mountain View, Calif.-based Logitech Inc.'s Squeezebox, a network device that plays streaming audio and offers a host of other features and services.

The challenge such a product faces is consumer awareness, said Sam Feng, director of product marketing for Logitech's streaming media business unit.

“Most people aren't even aware that something like this exists,” he said. “They aren't aware that Internet radio exists. We're starting to see as people kind of discover it on the computer, and the next logical step is "OK, great, I found it on the computer and I love it, but the computer is not where I want to be to listen to music.'”

Internet radio caters to a consumer base that increasingly demands choice, Feng said.

“People are somewhat tired of the broadcast format,” he said. “They want the ability to choose, and that's what's great about Internet radio. It's a two-way street.”

And it's the way of the future, he said.

The evolving market will likely be deep enough to support multiple manufacturers of Internet radios — more like traditional radios than the MP3 players — because Internet radio is going to be very, very popular, Feng said.

“It's just a matter of when, not a matter of if, the Internet radio is going to replace traditional radio,” he said. “Everything's trending in that direction.”