“BMW’s iPhone / iPod Blunder.” Or, “We All Could Use an Extra Six Inches.”

Scott Sanfilippo — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:08:14 +0000

I’ve been having a love/hate relationship with my BMW lately. It may seem like a trivial issue, but for me it has turned into an obsessive frustration, that I finally had to put to rest today.

When I purchased the car, I bought the iPhone USB Adapter, which is defined as:

The iPod® adaptor offers the ability to simply and easily integrate selected iPod® models and other selected MP3 players into the vehicle’s audio system. Once connected, the MP3 unit is fully controllable through the audio interface. You can then enjoy your personalized music selections delivered with the full audio capabilities and refinement of the BMW sound system.

This $400 cable connects into a USB and audio jack located deep within the arm rest console. At approximately 9-inches long, once plugged in and routed though the armrest, you are left with the plug for the phone and 2-inches of cable – hardly enough room to do anything with the phone and a complete engineering failure.

Paying $400 for a part that’s worth about $25 didn’t feel bad at the point-of-sale, after all, if you were told that you can “enjoy your personalized music selections delivered with the full audio capabilities and refinement of the BMW sound system,” wouldn’t you bite? Of course.

I’ve got nothing against the technology nor the price. The problem lies with the way BMW expects you to use this thing. The few times I did, the phone was left dangling between the arm rest and the seat during a turn. This flaw could have easily been remedied by simply adding a few extra inches to the cable.

I stopped by Staples and bought a USB and 1/8” audio extension cable and took matters into my own hands. After jury rigging these two cables, I plugged the phone in to see if it would work. After getting a warning on the phone’s screen that the device is not compatible with the phone, I dismissed it, and went to the iPod menu.

Bingo! Problem solved.

I’ve been sold on German automobiles for a long while, which is why I’m a repeat buyer of both BMW and Mercedes Benz. The quality and engineering of their vehicles is unparalleled, however I have to shake my head at small things like this and ask the question, “Why would anyone design something this functionally-deficient?” What would it take to add an extra 6-inches to the already super-overpriced $400 cable and why hasn’t anyone suggested this?

I’m sure there’s a reason for it. They may very well sell an $800 extension cable for it! But it’s the little things like this that only make customers frustrated. BMW could have created the “ultimate iPod experience” but forced me to compromise the refined look of my car’s passenger compartment by adding unsightly cables.

Now that the problem is solved, I’ll be more apt to listen to the songs stored on my iPhone, or tune into Pandora or Rhapsody as an alternative to Sirius XM Radio (which I can’t live without).

Next weekend, I’ll tackle the Mercedes which has an even crazier setup. With their iPhone interface, you need to keep the phone in the glovebox!

Serenity now!

The Infamous $400 Cable that Comes Up Short

The Cable After Installed - Hardly Functional

My Solution to a Simple Problem

It May Not Be Made for it - But It Works

“It’s A Great Piece of Hardware.” Or, “Not My Thoughts on the iPad.”

Scott Sanfilippo — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:59:19 +0000

It takes a lot to get me excited over a new product.

In fact, today is the first time I tried the “new” Domino’s pizza. Loved the marketing campaign where Domino’s admitted their product was bad and needed to reinvent themselves. Made me want to give it a try. The only problem was, the Domino’s who delivered my pizza obviously didn’t get the memo about the recipe change. My hand-tossed pie with extra sauce and pepperoni lacked the garlic-buttery crust, the sauce didn’t have the “kick” it’s supposed to, and I never knew Mozzarella cheese was yellow like cheddar.

It’s reasons like this that account for my lack of excitability. So when Steve Jobs announced that Apple is coming out with their version of a tablet pc, the iPad, I didn’t get too caught up in the frenzy. Sure, I’m a Mac guy. I was driven to the other side not by drinking the apple flavored Kool-Aid, but out of frustration. Simply put, Windows is just too damn unstable and crashes way too much. Since switching over to a Mac, I’m off my blood pressure medicine and even kicked the anti-depressants to the curb.

So what’s all the fuss about this iPad? I turned to my dear friend, Dr. Michael Neal, who gets excited about things like this for his comments. The rest of this blog post belongs to him. Me? I’m going to email Domino’s and tell them their pizza sucks.

I was glued to the computer yesterday. Had 3 sites running on auto refresh so I got all kinds of info on the newly launched Apple iPad.

I think I’m slightly underwhelmed by it. On face value, the hardware is incredible in battery life, performance and the general look. But it isn’t magical as they state. There are other tablets that are very similar except for the thickness. I’ve got a 12inch Asus from 3 years ago that was close to that. But close isn’t good enough.

What’s remarkable about the iPad isn’t the device. Its the following:

AT&T is offering unlimited data for 30 bucks without a contract. That’s a first that everyone seems to be overlooking. That’s half price of a laptop connect deal. Possibly less even. But AT&T sucks so whoopee.

The iPad is unlocked. It will take T-Mobile less than a month to find a micro sim adapter and launch an unlimited plan so they can capitalize on this. It will be a boon for them.

You won’t be able to type on this for even short periods of time without a keyboard. Put your keyboard on your lap and look straight down at it. Tell me how long it takes for your neck to get sore. 5 min? That’s why they demoed it seated with their leg up. In that capacity it will rock.

So basically, it’s a great piece of hardware.

Oh yeah, the book reader looks great. Till you take it outside. Ever use a kindle? It seriously rocks if you are a book reader.

It will also be pretty cool to watch TV on but good luck downloading TV over 3G.

What everyone seems to be missing is that this is just a platform. The magic will come in the apps. There are 140,000 reasons this tablet will turn into something incredible. Wait until developers get their arms around this thing. Imagine all the things you can do with 10 inches of multi-touchable super fast computer. That’s Jobs’ magic.

Apple will take the 70 million iPhone customers and convince some, if not most of them that this magic is worth buying. And buy it they will.

Dr. Michael Neal, OD lets his tech side show as CEO of Wink Interactive in Scranton, PA.

Scott Sanfilippo » iphone

“BMW’s iPhone / iPod Blunder.” Or, “We All Could Use an Extra Six Inches.”

“It’s A Great Piece of Hardware.” Or, “Not My Thoughts on the iPad.”