Rónán in München

I’ve posted before on MINI Connected in general. The app does a lot of fun things in-car if you have a new MINI with the correct extras attached. However, what if you don’t have such a car or the right extras in your MINI?

As the app is designed to complement the setup in the car with further web- and location-based services, the iPhone-only interface is by design not as comprehensive as the functionality when connected in the car. However, my favourite update in this latest version 1.3.3 is that the webradio function now receives an iPhone UI (it used to work only on the display in the MINI), so that you can use the app to listen to webradio anywhere - jogging in the park, at the gym, or driving your car - regardless of which manufacturer.

I use webradio all the time when driving. I simply plug a normal 3.5mm audio cable from the iPhone’s earphone port into the Aux-In in my BMW. I don’t need any other extras in the car to support the app.

You can do this too! Anyone can download the apps, for free - you don’t need to be a BMW or MINI owner. And webradio now works in any car with audio in, or even without a car! Obviously, when running the app in a non-supporting car, you need to operate it via the iPhone UI - nothing comes up on the display in the car. So only use it when safe to do so.

But in-car support is coming to BMW too in March 2011. You can even download the BMW version of the app already. It has a similar interface to that of MINI Connected, with a BMW skin. And you can start listening to webradio today regardless of the manufacturer of your car.

Personally, I am a big fan of this webradio app versus others available in the AppStore today. It’s not just because I worked on the development team =) The advantages are obvious:

• Variety built in: one app for all stations, instead of downloading various apps per station. Take advantage of radiotime.com’s massive webradio database from within one app
• Quality: in my experience, the mass of webradio apps I have collected from various stations has had widely varying levels of quality. Some apps crash all the time, or keep losing connection, some others have bad interfaces. Many stations get an app developed by an external company, and over time it develops bugs which don’t get fixed. MINI Connected and BMW Connected have a development team concentrated on the stability of one single app
• Price: you can pay over €5 for other webradio apps. MINI Connected and BMW Connected are free
• Design: the UI is clean and slick, and very intuitive to use

For the past twelve months or so at BMW I have been working on MINI Connected, a first-of-its-kind solution which, harnessing the power of the Apple iPhone and its internet connection, will bring informative as well as fun applications alongside multimedia and webradio to the car. MINI Connected will be launched simultaneously to the new MINI Countryman, both of which will be on display at the upcoming International Geneva Motor Show from March 4th.

After connecting his iPhone to the car via USB cable, the driver can operate the range of applications comfortably and with minimal distraction using the car’s built-in joystick control, which operates similarly to the familiar iDrive system in BMW-branded cars. Applications provide feedback to the user via the on-board computer screen located in the central speedometer and via sound output to the car’s speakers.

Making use of the iPhone’s internet connection, MINI Connected offers seamlessly integrated webradio. Furthermore by accessing car data while on the move, the Mission Control application interacts with the driver in fun and informative ways. There’s lots more to come, which I will blog about as we release further information.

View the full press release at BMW PressClub Global:
https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/pressclub/p/pcgl/pressDetail.html?outputChannelId=6&id=T0077845EN&left_menu_item=node__2320

I was invited by Human Resources towards the end of last year to take part in the making of a film for recruiting purposes at BMW. My boss at the Softwarehaus had suggested me for the shortlist. We did a short casting session and the final three partakers, yours truly included, were selected. A team from jobtv24.de travelled down from Berlin to film us over a period of two days. Filming took place at the Project House atrium building, in BMW’s FIZ (Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum, or Research and Innovation Centre) and BMW Car IT.

The other two stars of the show, André Schwald and Kirsten Matheus, are fellow colleagues of mine in the EI branch of the business, specifically Electric/Electronic Development, car Interior functions. Elmar Frickenstein, head of EI (I guess his title would translate into English as Vice President of Electric/Electronic-Interior), said a final word about the company and our activities here in Munich.

I’m happy to say the short film has now been released online at the link below (dialog in German). The team at jobtv24.de did a really professional job, resulting in a slick production that shows the cool side of working at BMW. I had lots of fun taking part, and congratulate the film team as well as BMW HR for a job well done.

You can find the video (4:45) here:
http://www.jobtv24.de/de/stellenangebote/automotive?ct=325&vid=29157