With electronic gadgetry becoming more and more a part of everyday life, cars are rapidly changing to accommodate the latest in mobile electronics. IPod integration is quickly becoming the norm in the automotive world and it looks as though Apple’s other popular product – the iPhone – will be following suit.
Mercedes-Benz is preparing to launch a new device that integrates the iPhone into its cars’ center console. The device is essentially a cradle that places the iPhone in between the driver’s and passenger’s seats and allows for iPhone controls via the car’s steering wheel-mounted controls.
Once hooked up to the cradle, all phone and audio functions are accessible, according to KickingTires.com.
Mercedes’ crop of 2009 vehicles should be available with the new iPhone connectivity, but owners of 2008 and older MB vehicles won’t be completely left out in the cold. Mercedes is planning to offer an iPhone kit that can be retrofitted into its older vehicles, which should hit the market in August.
Pricing for the kit has yet to be announced but it is expected to retail for the relatively low price of about $400.
06/25, 12:03 PM
posted by:
F451
Jobs is a huge fan of German automobiles, and motorcycles, as he loves their design and engineering.
06/25, 12:08 PM
posted by:
jonmiles
So I have to actually take my phone out of my pocket? With Audi bluetooth I don’t…
06/25, 1:36 PM
posted by:
batmobile
Hmmm – a car kit should always use the car’s external antennae — switching off the iPhone’s internal antennae completely . If it doesn’t do that, it’s unsafe and unsuitable for in-car use. Radiation levels from mobile phones inside cars (without external antennae) are approximately 10 times higher than using the same phone standing on the street … that’s because the phone has to put out a stronger signal because the vehicle is moving rapidly, and partly because the windows etc reflect the signal back into the vehicle. Unless the iPhone is specifically designed to allow for an external antennae (and to allow the internal antenna to be switched off), then this so-called in-car kit is just marketing hype at best, and an unsafe and potentially cancer inducing gimic at worst.
* Porsche get this whole car phone thing right … they let the car itself (external antennae) do the communications … and you simply pop in your own SIM card … so its safe and simple and there is no radiation within the vehicle.
* BMW completely screw it up. (a) the BMW in-car kits do not switch off the phones internal antennae … although they do limit the radiation by using the external antennae to boost the signal strength … but you still get radiated inside your car. I’m actually quite sensitive to this … I have a z4 coupe … and I have to leave the phone completely switched off inside the car or I feel the radiation in my head (well, pain in my earlobes, to be precise).
(b) using Bluetooth inside your car is just more radiation (albeit low strength) and more gimmicks that can go wrong. Your phone is already plugged into the in-car kitty thing … so there is no need for wireless syncing … it’s all already there. Oh – and the BMW car kits are hopeless. I’m using mine with one of the tiny number of supported phones ( a Sony Ericsson K800i), and it barely works … the phone has to be switched on BEFORE the car is switched on … ridiculous … if you switch the phone on once you are in the car and driving … you have to pull to the side of the road, switch off the engine, turn on phone, turn on car, wait for Bluetooth to init, and then it works. Hardly convenient.
06/25, 3:13 PM
posted by:
xyunya
F451, that’s explain black turtleneck and Apple European conferences in Paris
06/25, 3:48 PM
posted by:
beantownslut
Everybody wants sync. I want the 3G iPhone