BMW Launches ConnectedDrive In Middle East

BMW Group announced the launch of its innovative BMW ConnectedDrive
concept in the Middle East, enabling customers, for the first time in
the region, to access E-mails while they are in their car. Available
from March, initially in the new 5, 6 and 7 Series, BMW ConnectedDrive
offers E-mail services in the car. Users will be able to read and reply
to their E-mails using the BMW Online portal, accessed through the BMW
Professional Navigation system and built-in car telephone. Messages can
be displayed either on the front cockpit navigation screen or rear
seats screen. After inserting their mobile phone chip into the car
phone, the E-mail service can be accessed with a local call. Utilising
the iDrive controller, fitted to all new 5, 6 and 7 Series cars,
customers log on to their personal, unique password-protected BMW
Online email account and address book. E-mails from other business or
private E-mail accounts can also be forwarded to the users - BMW Online
mail box for reading and answering. "Another first for BMW, BMW
ConnectedDrive is not just some kind of new system, but rather an
overriding, all-round and truly convincing concept," said Robert
Bailey-McEwan, Managing Director, BMW Group Middle East. "With BMW
ConnectedDrive, BMW is making a significant, far-reaching contribution
to the improvement of mobility. "The concept offers everything
required to interconnect the needs of the environment, the optimisation
of transport as a whole, the maximisation of safety on the road and
that sheer driving pleasure so typical of BMW. Using their BMW Online
login name and password users of the service will also be able to
access their BMW Online email account from their business or home
computer or mobile phone. Although the service will initially be
limited to the receiving and sending of emails, BMW Group says the
service can easily be expanded to include third-party supplied
information such as hotel and restaurant guides and news. Although
initially available only in the United Arab Emirates, BMW plans to
launch BMW ConnectedDrive and BMW Online in other markets throughout the
Middle East. "We wish to bring the driver out of his isolation,
giving him access to all the information he finds important or
desirable," said Bailey-McEwan. "BMW ConnectedDrive, bringing
all the necessary systems and features together, is the key to reaching
this goal. You might, therefore, say that BMW ConnectedDrive is a kind
of virtual co-driver giving the driver the right information, rightly
processed at the right time." BMW Online was launched in Germany
in 2001 and the UK in 2003. The UAE is only the third country in the
world to which BMW has introduced BMW Online. About ConnectedDrive:
Notwithstanding all its technical potentials, BMW ConnectedDrive seeks
to achieve a sensible, target-oriented balance, combining the strengths
of the driver with those of the car?s technical systems. BMW
ConnectedDrive unites all activities within BMW related to the
intelligent integration of driver, car and surroundings. The idea,
quite simply, is that each player should make the best possible
contribution. While in the past interaction of the driver, the car and
the environment was usually left up to the driver himself and his
ability to adjust to different situations, BMW ConnectedDrive now opens
up new perspectives. The objective is to give the driver as much
information as desired and required, providing this information
individually and ergonomically for optimum results. Making life easier
and not more difficult through the assistance principle, BMW
ConnectedDrive is thus able to support the driver and enhance the
overall standard of safety and comfort on the road. The driver
nevertheless remains the key factor in all cases, retaining full
responsibility for all driving manoeuvres. Precisely this is why all
features of BMW ConnectedDrive are merely options made available to the
driver, giving him freedom of choice he may use at his discretion.
The bottom line, therefore, is that BMW ConnectedDrive offers an even
higher standard of sheer driving pleasure in the ultimate driving machine.