BMW Group today announces its support for the new iPod Out feature released in iOS 4, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system. The launch of a newly developed BMW Group interface technology will provide BMW and MINI drivers with an easy-to-operate, intuitive way of using their iPhone and iPod touch in future BMW Group vehicles.
iPod Out enables BMW and MINI entertainment systems to display and control the music playback feature of the iPhone and iPod touch directly within the vehicle’s main display. The LCD display in BMW and MINI provides users with the simplicity and familiarity they have come to trust in their iPhone and iPod touch. The intuitive and integrated iPod navigation menu can be safely operated through the vehicle’s controls. Additionally, state-of-the-art iPod features such as custom playlists and Genius, which creates a compatible playlist of songs from a user’s own library, is made available to BMW and MINI drivers through the vehicle’s main display. iPod Out requires iOS 4 with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod touch (second and third generation).
The new interface technology developed for this purpose by the BMW Group enables continued upgrades of iPod Out features for the iPhone and iPod touch in vehicles and represents a new milestone in consumer electronic device vehicle integration. Future vehicles equipped with this technology will be able to adapt more quickly to the software lifecycles of iPod touch and iPhone. The new interface technology was developed by an international cooperation of the BMW Research and Development Center in Munich, Germany and the BMW Group Technology Office Palo Alto in Silicon Valley in California.
Once again, the BMW Group has taken a leading role in the entertainment integration of iPhone and iPod touch with vehicles. In 2004, BMW was the first manufacturer to integrate the iPod into its audio system. The following year, a corresponding solution was presented for MINI. Simultaneously with the market launch of the iPhone in 2007, the BMW Group offered an exclusive solution for integrating iPhone in the entertainment and communications system of its vehicles via USB and Bluetooth technology.
The new iPod Out support by BMW Group mirrors the innovative strategy of BMW ConnectedDrive for the BMW brand and will be part of the new offer called MINI Connected for the MINI brand. Both brands aim at connecting the driver and passengers to their personal entertainment world in an intuitive and non-distracting way. The optimized use of consumer devices within the vehicle plays a central role in this connection.
