Bloomberg reports that CEO Karmazin said Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) will eliminate executive positions to cut costs. No doubt, after the only two U.S. satellite radio companies merged, there are some redundancies. He also said the company could report $300 million in earnings next year excluding some items.

What's more, Sirius XM will introduce new products. Perhaps these will include what the blogosphere is buzzing about today -- a new Internet application that would stream Sirius XM to portable devices, namely the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone, as noted by Citigroup's Tony Wible.

Apple's iPod and iPhone products, as well as other digital music players, have been named as competitors to satellite radio by Karmazin himself. If these reports are true, could he be trying to transform them from competitors into boosting the company's user base, creating a complementing, rather than competing, services?

Well, there are several issues with that: 1.) It's been over a year that with little tweaking, iPhone users have been able to listen to Sirius and XM radio. So far, this hasn't increased subscription, but perhaps a direct application that's properly marketed would. 2.) The analyst claims this would make SIRI more of a content provider and help attract users as the initial cost to the user would be minimal (no need to buy hardware). But an iPhone does not replace a car radio where hardware might still be needed. 3.) As for relying on content, this is where the real question lies. True satellite radio fans believe in the content, which is another reason they believe in the stock. But will Sirius XM become mostly content provider, abandoning its lucrative car market (despite the recent weakness).

As a long-time bear on satellite radio, the stock price has supported the case all by itself. This year alone Sirius XM had declined 54%. But perhaps now, after the beating the stock took, the merger, and the ability to now look forward and plan properly, perhaps it's finally time to give this one a chance.

Still, when CEO Karmazin says to Bloomberg Television "We need to get the revenue up beyond the cost of operating our business," one is left a little speechless, thinking, You don't say, Mel! Isn't that exactly what's been plaguing you all along?

SIRI stock is up 4 cents, or 2.9% today to $1.42 as of 1:50 p.m.