Munich/Berlin. In August 2016 BMW presented its all-encompassing
digital services concept to a European audience, BMW Connected at the
core. Available for the iPhone in the USA since March 2016, BMW
Connected provides seamless integration of the consumer’s daily
digital life with their vehicle – a personal mobility companion.
Starting in October, customers will also be able to use BMW Connected
on selected high-end smartphones running the latest version of
Android. BMW is teaming up with Samsung to preview the technology at
the Samsung Showcase event which took place on 31 August as part of
the IFA 2016 – the world’s leading consumer electronics and electric
household appliance fair – in Berlin.
BMW Connected for Android.
The first version of BMW Connected, already introduced in the USA and
available in 18 European markets since August 2016, focuses on
end-to-end journey management seamlessly integrated with the vehicle.
To this end, BMW Connected facilitates the daily planning of trips and
appointments, and enable users to reach their destination stress-free
and on time. BMW Connected for Android makes it easy to search for,
store and recall destinations. Appointments with addresses are
automatically imported from calendar entries. Users are then informed
of their optimum departure time based on real-time traffic
information. Frequently visited places and personal mobility patterns
are automatically learned in order to provide notifications to the
user if travel times are longer than usual. Destinations can easily be
transferred from the phone to BMW’s navigation system to eliminate
typing in the vehicle. Besides all this, the familiar BMW Remote
Services are also available for BMW Connected Android version,
allowing a variety of functions – such as the interior climate
control, vehicle locking and unlocking, and operating the horn and
headlight flasher – to be controlled remotely from a smartphone.
BMW Connected and the Samsung Gear S3.
In addition to support for popular Samsung smartphones, Samsung
presented the inclusion of BMW Connected into the Tizen ecosystem as
well as the direct integration of the technology into the latest Gear
S3 smartwatch. With BMW Connected users can get alerted when it’s time
to leave for their next trip, check their fuel level, unlock their
BMW, and more – all directly from the Gear S3 watch face.
This link-up offers further evidence of how rolling BMW Connected out
into other relevant digital ecosystems and touchpoints can constantly
broaden and improve the customer experience.
BMW Connected for Android will be available for selected smartphone
models in Germany and the USA in October 2016, and in other markets in
due course.