Jonathon Ramsey reports for Autoblog, “One of the next steps to evolve BMW’s iDrive into Connected Drive is increasing the communication the car has with peripherals. In this case, work is nearly complete on you being able to control your [Apple iOS devices – iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad] and all of [their] applications using the same Apple interface on the car’s console screen.
BMW supports Apple’s “iPod Out” functionality:
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anything that makes BMW’s iDrive UI more intuitive is certainly a good (and necessary) thing.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Damn that video is hard to watch. It’s so bad in so many ways.
BMW was at the start of the iPod revolution and now they are still at it
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> !!!!
Good for BMW drivers and Apple wins!
Buy AAPL stocks before it hits $301 this year!
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Next year 2011 it will be at $401
iDrive has evolved, kind of like the Mac OS. It may not be up to the speed of a tiger or leopard, but it’s certainly better than the original version that came out in 2001, right around the time that OS X was released.
That video was as painful to watch as iDrive is to use.
Test drove a 335i coupe this weekend and I must say that the iDrive is the only thing on an otherwise superb car that sucks. This iOS integration would be welcome when I eventually get a BMW.
If you ever read any reviews of BMWs the iDrive gets nuked by the writers every time. BMW has a stick up their ass when it comes to this kludge. At least the iPod integration is an enhancement.
I sell Mercedes-Benz for a living, and I can attest to MDN’s take.
iDrive is a major disadvantage in comparison to MB’s Comand system.
For the most part, iDrive is clunky, unintuitive, and difficult to use.
Personally, I’d like to see it remain that way. The harder the competition’s product is to use, the better!
I bought a Nissan X-Trail with a built-in navigation system that claimed to be “made for iPod” — and have never felt so thoroughly duped in my whole life. The “made for iPod” element is a connector on a cable running through the glove compartment. It’s impossible to control the iPod in any way except Start-Stop-Select track. That’s it!
That video was painful. And I didn’t really get any information out of it.
Must have cost a fortune to use Stephen Hawking for the voice over.
I wonder if they will push a software update to older BMWs, or will you have to buy a new BMW to get the new iPod interface?
@ BSOD–
You will have to buy a new car. That’s how the car business works.
You can buy updates that will add streets to your nav, Gracenotes, etc, but for new functionality, you need the new system.
Dudes at BMW, Palo Alto, use WINDOWS XP??? THA FUCK?!?!?
I thought I had it bad……….. O_O
Does BMW cover the accident you had because you were distracted working that iDrive?
iDrive is easily the most ridiculous, poorly executed and pointless pieces of software ever written. It is actually WORSE than Windows ME…Worse than Windows Vista…
It’s as if it were written by German monkeys who had been lobotomized and turned loose in a lab running Microsoft software that was written in the first place by drunken people in a rest home.
I would honestly like to rip it out of my $56,000 car and set it on fire outside the Palo Alto BMW offices now that I know they exist.
These people are criminals.
Other than that….I like it.