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Lisa Osborn's Pedal To The Metal New In-Vehicle Features: More Driver Distractions Could Be On The Road Ahead How would you like to travel with your own personal concierge riding shotgun? They'd help you find the nearest Chinese restaurant, provide directions for the fastest route to the airport, or notify you of a traffic jam up ahead. Services such as these may be available in your next new car. Several in-vehicle computer systems were on display at the CTIA Wireless Show in Orlando, as the battle heats up between industry giants and newcomers as to who consumers will purchase wireless information services from in the future. Companies such as MobileAria and ComWorxx demonstrated talking on board computer systems powered by your PDA or Palm device. Just slip your Pocket PC or phone into a car's built in holster to do some shopping, make a restaurant reservation, or check email. General Motors' OnStar is the most well known car computer-- you've probably seen their TV commercials starring Batman. But even the promise of driving a car decked out like the Batmobile hasn't prompted consumers to take action. A recent Telematics study found that half of the owners of cars equipped with OnStar haven't even bothered to activate the free one-year membership. This doesn't bode too well for other car PC companies hoping to charge about $35 bucks a month for their services. While the race is far from over, the wireless phone companies may turn out to be the big winners in the mobile content arena. The industry is hoping wireless entertainment and information services will boost billings and build customer loyalty. Last month, Verizon rolled out several games and entertainment services built on Qualcomm's BREW technology. Now subscribers in San Diego can pay $2.50 a month to play golf on their phone with Tiger Woods, or consult the Magic 8 Ball. Other wireless carriers are planning their own content offerings, but while games, stock quotes and ring tones have been popular sellers in Asia, the "killer app" that catches on in the U.S. is still up in the air. Back to the Traffic411 Dashboard |
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