MF Exclusive: the Future of MINI Connect Revealed

Sections: 2011 LCI | R55 (Clubman) | R56 (Hatch) | R57 (Conv.) | R60 (Countryman) | Technology Mar 2nd, 2010 19 Comments

Last week MINI introduced the new MINI Connect option on the Countryman crossover. The idea is the first of its kind in the automotive world. The idea is that your iPhone (more on that in a sec) plugs into the car via the armrest. This charges the iPhone and provides a connection to the roof antenna and a hardwire connection for all the data. The iPhone is still via Bluetooth so all the functions normally supported by MINI via Bluetooth are still there.

Why just the iPhone? According to sources MINI has approached several manufacturers but Apple has been by far and away the most helpful in development so at this point the iPhone has the priority. Being the smartphone market leader doesn’t hurt either. However MINI is also working on integrating newer Blackberry handsets in future updates. What’s unclear is whether the first cars with MINI Connect can be updated later to accommodate new phones (i.e. Android handsets).

The option debuts with the R60 on the show stand this week in Geneva but will technically reach market first in the US with the R55, R56 and R57 refreshed models that hit the market in September. That’s right, MINI Connect will be available across the entire range. It can be head with or without Navigation but we’re told that the large screen that comes with NAV really makes this option come to life.

But can you update your current MINI? In a word no. Our sources tell us that retrofitting the option is simply not in any way possible.

However there is some more good news. As we mentioned last week MINI Connect is a framework for not just a web radio application but for many applications. We expect email, the web, twitter, Google send to car and SMS to name just a few. Sources also tell us to expect MINI’s own app store to eventually debut. Does this mean independant developers can create their own apps? That’s unknown at this point. The downside of course is that a crashing phone’s operating system is one thing. Crashing a car’s OS is something completely different. It would be our guess MINI would maintain tight control over the entire system.

Written By: Gabe

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=29104291 Daniel Mittelman

just the iphone? I’ll buy this when I can get my droid to hook up, but not a second before.
http://www.lilcoopr.com lilcoopr

Ditto with my Blackberry!! :D
http://www.lilcoopr.com lilcoopr

BUT… regardless this is a very exciting innovation for MINI! I look forward to borrowing a co-workers iPhone and playing around with this feature as soon as it’s out on the refresh models!
http://www.mynextmini.info Chris

I’m definitely going to order this option when I place my order for the Countryman.
http://www.facebook.com/ron.myers Ron Myers

Any predictions on cost? I’ll probably have to add it to the options list no matter what, but would be interested in how much it will set me back.

And just think of the possibilities with the added screen real estate of the iPad!
rosvick

Am I seriously the only person left (who has an iPhone) who doesn’t want to be distracted with tweets and Facebook status updates every ten seconds while driving? I thought the MINI’s philosophy was “to motor,” not to “check my email.”
danny

When the droid sells 70 million units like the iPhone/itouch has so far and then sells another 70 million more more this year, then BMW should look at the droid.

Until then, like it or lump it, the iPhone is the new ipod car go to device.
Dean

I have an iPhone, but the problem with it is AT$T. Once you actually start motoring you enter the many AT$T dead zones and the phone’s data support becomes useless, because 3G coverage is minimal outside metro areas. And forget EDGE. That on the AT$T network is like using a 9600 baud modem, on a good day.
b-

Like the article says,

“Why just the iPhone? According to sources MINI has approached several manufacturers but Apple has been by far and away the most helpful in development so at this point the iPhone has the priority. “

I am sure that if blackberry and MOTO would have been as helpful as Apple was they would have been happy to make them a priority too. Like it or not the iPhone is a MAJOR smart phone player and MINI knows this. Do you have to buy an iPhone, no, just wait until your device is supported.

I am sure you will be able to disable anything you will not want bothering you when you drive. Don’t want to get tweets, turn that feature off.
bee1000

Rosvick: I don’t have an iphone, but I can say you are not the only one baffled by this concept. Anyone with any smartphone already has access to the web, email, mytwitface, etc, but hopefully NOT while they’re supposed to be driving. Tying any of that into a car’s dashboard is unnecessary and becomes yet another way to distract what we used to call “drivers.” The Internet radio application, and some sort of web-based navigation could be tied in without being additional distractions, but the rest of it is moving down a dangerous path which will be cut off by laws banning the use of the Internet while driving.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabe

I think it’s safe (and frankly obvious) to think that MINI won’t allow certain applications to run while driving. Just as they don’t allow the current NAV TV (available outside the US) to work while driving.
michael

no retrofit? hasn’t mini realize there is a market for them to make these new options retrofitable. this isn’t the only thing that plenty of people want to be able to retrofit, for instance when they came out with the smartphone prep.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000710531652 Matt Richter

This wouldn’t crash the car’s OS, just the nav/data computer. So it’s not like a bad app will make the engine stop! Maybe just loose a few tweets…. But tight control of the app space means that one can vet what runs on the system, but it also means that one can’t harvest all the collective effort of the dev community to generate content.

I do see a convergance market for cars, but really, I get the feeling that a lot of this stuff is “because we can” instead of “because we should” or “because people really, really want it”. That said, there’s something to be said for push marketing.

And what’s funny about this is I’m under the impression that getting the dev kit for other devices is pretty easy. Anyway, we’ll see where this leads. And then there’s the whole issue of tethering and how that all works with various user agreements.

Howardforums (phone hack forum site), here we all come!

Matt
bee1000

If the phone could pull OBDII info from the car and then display it, that could be nice, but selling Mini Connect as a way of viewing web-based content in a car makes no sense to me. It just duplicates a capability most phones already have, but with added limits on when you can use it. My futurevision is usually cloudy, so I’m probably missing the part where this is a great technological advancement. I guess it would make iPod music easier to use at least.
http://www.facebook.com/jwelshjr John Welsh

[iPhone] Being the smartphone market leader doesnâ€™t hurt either.

Erm. In what sense? Market share? Have you looked at the actual numbers? The number of Nokia phones in user hands easily dwarfs the number of iPhones. Blackberry also edges out the iPhone and Android is making amazingly fast penetration. (Global smartphone marketshare report) Those are global figures. (US market share is skewed rather differently – and, no, Apple is not on top here, either.) Otherwise, if you mean that the iPhone has been an innovative front-runner in the smartphone segment, well the wording is rather ambiguous. The developmental support is a legitimate argument. Stick with it.

…and I’d hold out for Android support as well. :-D
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1067376141 Thomas Ammentorp

Can MINI Connect update the car’s firmware? Or is it just for entertainment features.
http://www.facebook.com/juan.calderon Juan Calderon

I might’ve chosen the wrong time to upgrade my MINI. (If only my ’03 weren’t ready to take a dump.)
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