9to5Mac is reporting that Apple is currently working on an in-house radio application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This application will supposedly run in the background and offer the same features as the FM radio seen on the new iPod Nano. There's even mention that the app will feature Live Pause functionality.
Both the iPhone 3GS and the iPod 3G have an FM transmitter and receiver installed, however currently there are no apps to activate the latent hardware. The same holds true with the iPhone and iPod Touch 2G, however these models have FM radio receivers only. Apple previously performed the same stunt with the dormant Bluetooth hardware, activating the tech long after the devices hit the market.
9to5Mac added that Apple is currently attempting to integrate the Mobile iTunes Store purchase functionality into the radio app using Song Tagging, thus delaying its release. The site provides an example on how the tagging will work: users will hear a song on the radio and can then push a button to pull up and purchase the tune in the iTunes Store. Of course, this will only work if the station supports Song Tagging.
As seen here, the iPod Touch 2G features Broadcom's BCM4325 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip. The company's overview clearly reveals that the chip has a built-in FM receiver in addition to the integrated IEEE 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.
