“Apple Computer Inc. and automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG are developing a device that will let users listen to songs from their iPod music players through the radios of BMWs and Minis. The adaptors will be available in vehicles sold in the U.S., Eckhard Wannieck, a BMW spokesman at the carmaker’s Munich headquarters, said in an interview. He wouldn’t elaborate,” Dan Stets and Peter J. Brennan report for Bloomberg News.
“A deal with BMW is likely to be the first of several pairings between Apple and carmakers as the computer maker, once mainly known for its Macintosh PCs, tries to sell more iPods. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, in Europe this week to open iTunes online music stores, said he is in talks with automakers he wouldn’t name,” Stets and Brennan report.
“‘It’s just the tip of the iceberg,’ said Jim Grossman, a portfolio manager at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which manages $64 billion. ‘The market opportunity for people who would like to play iPods in their cars is huge.’ BMW will release details on models and prices in coming weeks, Wannieck said. The devices will allow users to control their iPod players in the same way they would control the radio… Jobs on Monday said the company will introduce a music product for cars later this year,” Stets and Brennan report.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Thanks, Apple. We’ve only been asking for almost a year. 
Related MacDailyNews article:
Apple request: we need the Apple ‘iBox’ and ‘iPodCar’ products now – August 07, 2003
Apple’s new iTunes Car Stereo should debut this fall for holiday sales season – August 07, 2003
Dang, I’ll have to trade up my iPod and bimmer too [cha-ching]. Where will it all end?
I guess this gives more credence to the often used “just like BMW” argument!
This is a dissapointing solution. I want to use the iPod in the car I drive now, not a BMW.
Having said that, iPods could become The Next Great Thing for car sales. Air-conditioner? Check. Central locking? Check. iPod? Check!
Sol, I don’t think this will only be limited to BMW’s. I think it will start with BMW’s, but will also eventually be available in Ford’s, Chevy’s, and others as well.
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=310184&pfp=BROWSE
the Netalog DLO TransPod is supposed to be an excellent car-based adapter. It’s basically an iPod dock that you can plug into your car’s lighter. Best feature: it doesn’t use the headphone jack to transmit the FM signal, it uses the dock connector instead. No more diddling around with volume levels trying to get a clean sound.
“Sol, I don’t think this will only be limited to BMW’s. I think it will start with BMW’s, but will also eventually be available in Ford’s, Chevy’s, and others as well.”
Kind of like iTunes. First available for Macs only and then for PC users.
Please you must be joking…
There is nothing wrong with the Ford Taurus. Throughout the entire business world Ford Taurus is the automobile used daily. Why would you think that anyone would want an iPod in a BMW. The whole world uses Ford Tauruses and the departments of all most all major corporations use Fords.
The Ford Taurus is the standard for corporate and personal automobiles. We are all very happy with the products Ford provides. If Apple had anywhere near the standards of Microsoft, they would have developed a solution for Ford first.
Audi introduced a digital music system a few weeks ago that would be pretty cool except that it requires a pee-cee. Basically you download MP3/WMA files from your computer using their software to a storage device that fits in the back where CD changers used to be before they moved to the dash. The radio allows you to select the device and control it from the radio. Song & Artist info is displayed on the radio as well as in the intstrument cluster.
It doesn’t apear to play protected-WMA and certainly isn’t compatible with iTunes/iPod. I gave Audi an earful. Hopefully they will be able to work with Apple as well. I really want that new A3 next year!
More info at: http://www.phatnoise.com/audi/
it seems to me that sooner or later someone will come up with an MP3 player that can be plugged right into the car’s dash when driving, and unplugged and carried about for personal use when not driving. Probably would sport Satellite radio compatibility as well. Now THAT would be an iPod killer, unless Apple gets there first.
Steve, are you listening?
perhaps you could even purchase/download music to the MP3 player via the Satellite radio service…hmmmm
How is this the first, Grant it it wasn’t a great implementation but they where bundling iPod’s with VW Beetles for a while and volkswagen had a kit to install the iPod in your car. (Consisted of a cup holder adapter to hold the iPod, Cigarette lighter charger, and a tape adapter to play it) Like I said not a great implementation, but still the first.
Re: Ford Taurus.
As mainstream as you THINK the iPod is.. only 3 million sold in the world..
Soooo out of NA and Europe and Japan.. there’s …what..around 800 million first worlders?
And 3 million iPods sold (granted they are scrambling to catch up w demand)
The point is.. really..it’s still a status symbol.. so doing the Dell thing wouldn’t work (Ford).. For the record… Apple’s cache is selling computers that feel first class, at decent prices.. So obviously that ‘feel’ will be in a BMW first
I have a For Taurus, a Mustang and an Explorer. I also have an iPod. I tried the whole iTrip and iRock thing but they sucked. I’m no audiophile but I do know crappy sound when I hear it. All my friends have iPods and they all drive american cars. Ford, Pontiac, Chevy, Jeep. Now that I think of it, none of my european car driving friends even have iPods. Interesting…
First level of integration: As in the bimmer — steering wheel buttons control volume and fwd / back.
Second level of integration: iPod screen mirrored in the navigator screen.
Third level of integration: Wirelessly synch’ your car’s built-in iPod [optional extra] from your comp or your iPod.
Fourth level of integration: plug your butt to the car and it drives itself and blows music outta your ears.
Rendezvous in a car…cool
When I bought my Mini a few weeks back, I got an adaptor built in. It is in the glove box. Plug your iPod into it and control the songs from the iPod. It’s great for road trips, and beats the hell out of the 6-CD changer that was in my Beetle. Had to know which CDs you want in advance, load them into a cartridge, put them in the changer in the back of the car.
If Apple/BMW is coming up with something else where you can plug in the iPod via a Firewire cable so that you can control it via the stereo, I’ll upgrade.
For those of you who want an iPod solution in your car….and don’t want to wait for a BMW.
I bought an adapter that hooks up to the CD changer input on many factory stereos. The adapter has the RCA jacks so then all you do is hook the iPod to an splitter and you are all set! Direct input of the iPod into your stereo. No FM modulation or tape adapter taking away sound quality. The adapter cost me around $70 US and then of course the splitter and a cell phone cradle from Radio Shack that seems like it is designed for an iPod 3G. Total cost was $100 and this solution rocks.
Here is the link to the company that I purchased from:
http://www.logjamelectronics.com/auxinpconv.html
The Ultimate Accessory for the iPod: A BMW.
Third-party hook-up is not a completed solution. You might not be able to control tracks/volume from the steering view and view song information on the console.
Just imagine a bimmer with iPod setup and with the existing BMW Bluetooth solution, you will be able to control your iPod from the steering wheel and view the song information on the console. Then when a call comes in, the car automatically pause the music, shows the call id information from your Bluetooth phone on the car console. All you have to do is to press a button on the steering wheel to speak.
The idea of bundling iPod with a car sale is a stroke of genius. A lot of people who choose not to buy an iPod do so because of it’s price tag. But when you’re shopping for a new vehicle, you’re already spending large sums of cash. What’s another $300-$500 on top of that? Especially when you could then knock out a CD player option…
It could very well a “why not?” mentality that has the potential to sell a lot of iPods.
Too bad most of the new BMWs are ugly.
Third party hook up IS A SOLUTION. It solved my problem very well. I don’t need any more buttons on my steering wheel!
By the way, the iRock is not a bad FM transmitter if you don’t want to get a new head unit or an audio adapter. I used one in a UHaul truck recently and was actually impressed by it. Never tried the iTrip.
you will see more of the solution using 802.11g or bluetooth even with iPod. Now that the next generation iPod is “expected” to stream music wirelessly to a speaker, it would guess the car speakers would also be one of them.
I think it might have been a request from the Marketing department that BMW be done first. This further cements the link in consumer minds that Apple is the BMW of the computer world (the Mac being something that most users actually CAN afford however). Even Steve has made the BMW comparison when discussing Apple Market share.
I would like to see an underdash wifi card that streams to the sterosystem. Then could then have a plug in attachment for Wifi sending for the iPod with 4th Gen iPods with the wifi built in. This would dovetail nicely with the Airport express.
Damn it I just bought Chrysler Town and Country 🙁
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Now I need to sell it and buy a brand new BMW
Nearly all cars made in USA are absolute crap. Cheap ill-fitting interiors & body work that has too many different gaps. Example: Ford Mustang & Taurus & all Jeeps made in America. Complete cheap crap, their only good at making low-tech trucks.