Apple, VW, team up for the iBug …
p2pnet news | Product News:- Can it be true? An iPod on wheels?
Yes, and at great expense, p2pnet is proud to say it’s been able to exclusively secure the first picture of the new machine, tentatively dubbed the iBug.
You’ll only be able to buy gas approved by Apple, tyres approved by Apple, Apple-approved coffee, crisps and other essential car trip munchies.
You’ll have to open an iTunes account, of course. And the strangely shaped roof-mounted antenna-cum-filter is keyed to accept only transmissions prepaid at $1 per half hour.
Not only but also, you’ll have to pay way above the odds, risking lawsuits if you dare to shop outside the prescribed outlets.
And so on.
But these are mere trifles compared to the thrill of being able to own an Apple iBug.
“The head of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, recently travelled to California to swap ideas with Steve Jobs of Apple about the possible launch of a new intelligent Beetle,” says Times Online.
“Mr Winterkorn is going to visit the Apple chief again next week as the project gathers pace.”
But VW spokesman Hans-Gerd Bode stressed everything is still open and, “Scores of ideas are being kicked around,” says the story.
“The new gear, say analysts, typifies how the Cupertino, Calif., company is focusing on its core businesses after expanding into the cellphone industry earlier this year with its iPhone,” says the Wall Street Journal, adding:
“According to Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey – and several Apple fan sites – the new iPods would be the first to be based on a version of Apple’s homegrown computer operating system. They will be about an inch shorter and will be capable of storing more digital media, according to Apple fan sites.”
Times Online continues:
The new Beetle might, it seems, be too simple to be converted into a technologically intelligent super-car. After all, even the relatively straightforward iPhone is baffling some users.
The incentive for the German and US chief executives to develop the iCar has come from a deal struck by rivals Ford and Microsoft. Ford is planning to introduce an in-car communication and entertainment system, known as Sync, this autumn. It will allow drivers, either by using dashboard controls or voice recognition, to listen to their digital music players or have telephone text messages read aloud.
BMW has also developed, with Intel, a mobile office apparatus for its Series 7, giving drivers access to wireless LAN and to a Bluetooth-enabled printer.
Audi, at the higher end of the Volkswagen group, already has a system that shows information from the iPod on the display of the car radio. But that is a long way short of a new Apple-branded super-car.
Stay tuned. And watch out for tappet rattle.
Also See:
Times Online – And the latest must-have? An office on four wheels, August 31, 2007
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August 31st, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Apple should change their slogan to “iSuck”…..sorry, couldn’t resist.
September 2nd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
I don’t think FedEx makes bubble envelopes big enough for shipping the car back to Apple when the battery needs replacement.