Saturday, June 9, 2012

Enjoying BMW apps

Since a few month I drive a BMW Efficient Dynamics 320D.


While I was selecting a new car I was looking for a "Green Car" with sufficient engine power and a car which enables easy integration with my iPhone.
As I wrote in my previous blog, car manufacturers should innovate to support seamless integration with smartphones and tablets. BMW, as a part of the ConnectedDrive vision,
introduced BMW Apps in March 2011. After a few weeks of driving experience with the use of BMW apps I am convinced that BMW will be able to combine the two best things in the world: the best car technology and great iPhone experience.

From the very few available BMW apps


I like the Web radio the most, which allows me to listen to my favorite Polish news station Talk FM and the best Business News Radio Dutch 'BNR Nieuwsradio'. You can also post tweets or update your Facebook status by using car data such as outside temperature or location. BMW promises many more apps soon.
Hopefully the BMW iDrive platform, co-designed with Apple, is going to be open to third parties developers which should result in many new applications.
BMW started cooperation with third parties to get new apps on the BMW platform. The first one certified is AUPEO which my daughters like very much. It is a pity that Spotify is not yet integrated with BMW iDrive.
I expect that BMW will also start to cooperate with other companies such as airlines resulting in great BMW apps improving further travel experience.
What about an app that will inform you about your delayed flight or one that will send you a notification regarding available seats on the next flight that you would have to consider due to bad traffic?
That sounds like a far away future but I have no problem waiting as even without the apps BMW's driving experience is far above my expectations and the fuel usage is really very low: over the last 20000 km my average fuel consumption was only 4,8l per 100km (58.85mpg UK, 49mpg US) despite enjoying often the sport driving mode.
The BMW uses at least 20% less fuel than Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDI I was driving for the last three years.
It is also much more economical than the most sexiest small car of 2011 Fiat 500 TwinAir turbo my wife bought recently with average fuel consumption a bit less than 8l p 100km (35.3mpg UK, 29.4mpg US). This small FIAT got plenty of design awards but at the same time on Internet you can find lots of complaints about its abnormal petrol consumption.
Imagine what kind of car could be produced if German technology would be combined with Italian design !

Another advantage of BMW Apps is that you will never have problems finding your car back, you carry your BMW parking location with your iPhone.

There is a risk, however, that some drivers would like to update their Facebook status or tweet while driving therefore my recommendation is to disable those applications when the car starts moving.



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