this sounds cool. i hope other car manufacturers will follow.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=502
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=502
Apple and BMW team up for car audio device
- Thread starter macridah
- Start date
Neat. Now they just need to get BMW to stop using the Windows embedded OS to control parts of the car(navigation & stuff) and put in an OS X control 
Sounds a lot like the Alpine announcement some months back.
jobsen_ski
Daily Player
well here i the UK there has already been a car kit announced for the SMART cars (I dont know if they have them in da US) its quite a kool wee car! a link to the apple UK story (btw smart is owned by mercadies - I think) http://www.apple.com/uk/hotnews/articles/smart/ its quit a common car for advertising - because everyone looks - but they quit common now - especial in the citys.
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
I am driving one!
They are fantastic. Insurrance, gas consumption and price are really great. And you have a fully equiped car not like most of the german cars where you still have to pay extra for your seats and the trunk..
However, it's a pitty you can't easily plug your iPod to any car-hifi. And I think smart offers such adapter just for certain hifi-systems which are quite expensive. However, wouldn't it be great to have a plug for your regular antenna and you can switch to your iPod using a certain radio wave?
They are fantastic. Insurrance, gas consumption and price are really great. And you have a fully equiped car not like most of the german cars where you still have to pay extra for your seats and the trunk..
However, it's a pitty you can't easily plug your iPod to any car-hifi. And I think smart offers such adapter just for certain hifi-systems which are quite expensive. However, wouldn't it be great to have a plug for your regular antenna and you can switch to your iPod using a certain radio wave?
onegoodpenguin
i am fish.
lurk said:
I accomplished something similar with my 1998 Saturn SL1 (Pioneer deck) using the CD changer interface > RCA > stereo mini-plug. I have to select the AUX input, and it works well, but still leaves me controlling the tunes from the iPod, rather than the in-dash controls. Does anyone know of any developments, even among the community, that allow for controlling playback from the deck?
This announcement got me thinking. This move is just the next step in Apple's goal of having a piece of your music listening experience regardless of your setting. Remember Jobs' statement in assessing where people listen to music during the Airport Express launch (1-computer, 2-iPod, 3-car, 4-home). Well he did say that the solutions for listening in the car weren't adequate but they were working on something.....we'll this partnership is it.
Some other thoughts
- Interesting choice of auto manufacturers. Jobs always likened Mac marketshare to that of Mercedes-Benz. So one would think that that's where they'd end up, but they went with BMW. Not a bad move. Clearly, identifying with a premium luxury automaker was a priority -- again staying away from the Volkswagen stereotype. One would think that partnering with other automakers will happen down the road if there is a demand.
- The integration of the direct iPod output and the in-dash control provides for a minimal loss of audio quality compared with other solutions. The only other mainstream way to achieve this in the car was with mp3 CD's which are accepted by many decks.
- Very nice timing in relation to the iTMS opening in Germany. Do they make this announcement now if this wasn't yet a done deal? Don't think so.
- If people buy into this iPod-centric model of music ownership, this would continue the pace of iPod sales (good thing for Apple) and indirectly hinder the development of the alternative model of music subscription services (bad thing for Windows, rhapsody, et al.)
Any other thoughts how this announcement changes the music landscape?
Some other thoughts
- Interesting choice of auto manufacturers. Jobs always likened Mac marketshare to that of Mercedes-Benz. So one would think that that's where they'd end up, but they went with BMW. Not a bad move. Clearly, identifying with a premium luxury automaker was a priority -- again staying away from the Volkswagen stereotype. One would think that partnering with other automakers will happen down the road if there is a demand.
- The integration of the direct iPod output and the in-dash control provides for a minimal loss of audio quality compared with other solutions. The only other mainstream way to achieve this in the car was with mp3 CD's which are accepted by many decks.
- Very nice timing in relation to the iTMS opening in Germany. Do they make this announcement now if this wasn't yet a done deal? Don't think so.
- If people buy into this iPod-centric model of music ownership, this would continue the pace of iPod sales (good thing for Apple) and indirectly hinder the development of the alternative model of music subscription services (bad thing for Windows, rhapsody, et al.)
Any other thoughts how this announcement changes the music landscape?
Fahrvergnuugen
I am the law!
I like my mod better
My biggest gripe with the BMW setup is that they didn't make it display the track / artist / album info on the stereo. i guess maybe its just not possible with the current model of the iPod...i don't really know.
with my setup i can see and control the iPod while driving - just as easily as you can control an in dash stereo.
My biggest gripe with the BMW setup is that they didn't make it display the track / artist / album info on the stereo. i guess maybe its just not possible with the current model of the iPod...i don't really know.
with my setup i can see and control the iPod while driving - just as easily as you can control an in dash stereo.
and yes i have a VW (6 of them)
They said it couldn't display track info because the BMW's stereo doesn't display CD Text.
mi5moav
Registered
Honestly, I think the bmw ipod setup is perfect. When i'm driving I don't want to look at the track names and such I want to have easy control of my songs withouth having my hands leave the stearing wheel. Secondly I want one simple cord. I also don't want to worry about charging/recharging the ipods battery. With this implementation the ipod is also constantly being charged. I'm sure if this experiment goes well in the future a heads up navigational display will be available and such.
The great thing about this is the connnection. Not only can it pull info from the ipod it can also push info...So, it can become your cars little black box. All computer information can be stored on the ipod. I can also download information movie times/maps/photos, etc... and if apple and bmw or any other car manufacturer want to pull infor from the ipod they can. But there is more...Kids will start tinkering with the computers on the bmw pushing drive information such as start time, stop distance, acceleration, gforces and top speed info. They can then disconnect and upload to a website of everyone that has their ipods hoooked up to their car. Basically a super duper pedometer for your car.
In a few years I can download 20 movies to my ipod 100 gigger and then attach then attatch it to my bmw and with the rear lcd screens in the headrest the kids can pull movies from the ipod while we drive cross country. It's entertainment to go, anywhere.
The great thing about this is the connnection. Not only can it pull info from the ipod it can also push info...So, it can become your cars little black box. All computer information can be stored on the ipod. I can also download information movie times/maps/photos, etc... and if apple and bmw or any other car manufacturer want to pull infor from the ipod they can. But there is more...Kids will start tinkering with the computers on the bmw pushing drive information such as start time, stop distance, acceleration, gforces and top speed info. They can then disconnect and upload to a website of everyone that has their ipods hoooked up to their car. Basically a super duper pedometer for your car.
In a few years I can download 20 movies to my ipod 100 gigger and then attach then attatch it to my bmw and with the rear lcd screens in the headrest the kids can pull movies from the ipod while we drive cross country. It's entertainment to go, anywhere.