BMW Multifunction Smart Key (press release)

Lets face it BMW could release a car that injected heroin

Heroin is cool?


Well then they are not doing their job very well. Instead of coming out with something revolutionary or clever, they come up with a gimmick because they don't necessarily have any better ideas. In other words, I see this as just filler so that they can keep their jobs.

Agreed, if this were a GM idea it would be another stupid idea from that company, but since it's BMW people will defend it.

http://img143.imageshack.**/img143/3573/debitpaypass09161vj1.jpg
Small keychain credit cards are nothing new.

So they are making the keyfob 4x as big so you can ... use it as a train ticket.


Pointless technology brought to you by a company that could release trunk airbag for people inside and it would be defended as a good idea :rofl:
 
Heroin is cool?

Agreed, if this were a GM idea it would be another stupid idea from that company, but since it's BMW people will defend it.

Small keychain credit cards are nothing new.

So they are making the keyfob 4x as big so you can ... use it as a train ticket.

Pointless technology brought to you by a company that could release trunk airbag for people inside and it would be defended as a good idea :rofl:

Have you not heard of heroin chic? Look this technology will be proliferated but in a different context. At some point the integration of keys and other objects will be common place. Its not only car makers that are looking into this but cell phone companies in particular. Aston integrates its key with a watch. The only technology that matters is the one that sells even if its pointless.
 
Have you not heard of heroin chic? Look this technology will be proliferated but in a different context. At some point the integration of keys and other objects will be common place. Its not only car makers that are looking into this but cell phone companies in particular. Aston integrates its key with a watch. The only technology that matters is the one that sells even if its pointless.

Cellphone that can replace keys, credit cards, mp3 player, camera, camcorder, laptop, gps and a video player makes perfect sense. You are likely to have a cell on you at all times but car keys.....
 
Have you not heard of heroin chic? Look this technology will be proliferated but in a different context. At some point the integration of keys and other objects will be common place. Its not only car makers that are looking into this but cell phone companies in particular. Aston integrates its key with a watch. The only technology that matters is the one that sells even if its pointless.
But you see, an Aston Martin key integrated to a watch is good (given that the watch is any good obviously), that removes your need to carry your car keys at all, all of it's functions have been integrated to perhaps a few buttons on your chronograph or perhaps even totally free of buttons. And you'll have your watch with you all the time anyways. So that makes perfect sense. Eliminate car keys, integrate them into something that customers will have with them at all times.

Now you might obviously say that watches aren't something everyone tends to carry with them, well, i'd still say that about one in a thousand customers of Aston don't have a watch. In econoboxes that thinking wouldn't necessarily work so well, since us young people (and old ladies maybe) aren't supposed to be so much into watches anymore, apparently we just check the clock from our cell phones, but just as their Aston Martins, AM (and any other prestigious car for that matter) owners own watches as status symbols, and they carry them all the time. I (and plenty of my friends) however use a watch, and don't plan on giving up on that anytime soon either, so it isn't doomed in econoboxes either, just not as good an idea.

The idea of integrating other functions into something that most people don't carry unless they need it for it's primary function, on the other hand, is rubbish. It would be possible to integrate plenty of functions into a screwdriver or a hammer, that could probably be our (legit) electronic car key or credit card or MP3 player, but why hasn't anyone built such a thing? Because most people don't carry a screwdriver or a hammer with them, unless they'll need it for it's primary function, turning screws or smashing nails into walls. The same goes with car keys. Why integrate something non-car related into a car key, because it's not likely we'll have them with us unless we actually need them for opening our car doors and turning the engine on or off?

And i can't see that being a smash hit on the sales front either, since i reckon that most people who can afford new BMW's are at least moderately affluent, and therefore have some financial sense. And according to my financial sense, double charging isn't something i want to pay. I don't want to pay my monthly fees to BMW for using their key as my credit card (which i bet they'd charge, it's BMW, remember), unless that eliminates me from a larger or equal fee, charged by American Express, Visa or other credit card company for using their card, which i can't see it doing. Therefore i'd rather use cash, or should i need a card, just a card, for which the provider of the card charges me a monthly fee for.

This is actually visible right now from the car manufacturer's branded credit cards. Edmunds featured an article on them a long while back (i'm not sure if they still have it on their website), from which it was clearly visible that the fees increased as the car manufacturer with their car-related benefits came along. And well, rather obviously, the luxury manufacturer's fees were fairly high, higher than "run-of-the-mill" manufacturers, and at least i missed what made them so expensive in the first place. Obviously you could get discounts on car-related services through the card, but then, you can get benefits with (especially the big-spender) credit cards anyway, if not necessarily from car services, but maybe from hotel nights or flights or whatever. So in my opinion, much of the added (perceived) value actually comes from the brand value (or badge snobbery, whichever you like more). And is brand value worth paying for in this case? Not in my mind.

Wow, this became one long post.
 
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^ it did become very long... I think you have to know that people who Lease BMW's are not the most financially savy of individuals. The car company has to integrate car items into everyday life then sell the technology to a partner to produce branded items. So you could buy a Swatch or an Omega to start your car both with a little BMW to show that your a man.

Personally I think the best idea would be to have it placed under the skin where the hand meets the wrist. Look at any of the pet microchips they are about the size of a grain of rice and emit a harmless RF signal that could be extremely useful.

But what you have to understand is that they didn't just get the idea of integrating a key and other junk. They were given a task of how to make the BMW more connected in the customers life. This would be more useful if ZipCar had brand new BMW's at every location. If you where given this task other than free tattoos there isn't much way of connecting car and customer.
 
So you could buy a Swatch or an Omega to start your car both with a little BMW to show that you're a knob.
FTFY

I just don't think that this much information should be associated with something like a car key. A cell phone or PDA, maybe, but not a car key.
 
Big thanks to someone who negrepped me for the long post with a comment: "Turducken". Care to explain why you did that?
 
Actually, I had a brainwave. BMW are doing this the wrong way round.

Nobody wants a credit card in their keyfob. But why not put the keyfob technology in your credit card, use it as a keyless entry / engine start?

Assuming it can be done without making the credit card any bigger (I don't know if it can), it would make sense. Most people have their purses or wallets on them all the time, and this is in theory adding extra features to something useful and doing away with the need for something else (the keyfob). No matter how good BMW make their fob, you'll still need a wallet/purse (for receipts, loose change, loyalty cards etc).
 
Actually, I had a brainwave. BMW are doing this the wrong way round.

Nobody wants a credit card in their keyfob. But why not put the keyfob technology in your credit card, use it as a keyless entry / engine start?

Assuming it can be done without making the credit card any bigger (I don't know if it can), it would make sense. Most people have their purses or wallets on them all the time, and this is in theory adding extra features to something useful and doing away with the need for something else (the keyfob). No matter how good BMW make their fob, you'll still need a wallet/purse (for receipts, loose change, loyalty cards etc).

Credit cards already have RFID technology so no they wouldn't make it any bigger. However it is still somewhat pointless, it would really make more sense to do this to a phone. You can use the bluetooth capability pretty much all the phones have these days. Credit card would have to be BMW branded and it would have to be in addition to an existing card.
 
I like that idea of integrating it into your phone, but how do you put the credit card/ e-ticket/find-my-car/ functions into the phone.
 
I like that idea of integrating it into your phone, but how do you put the credit card/ e-ticket/find-my-car/ functions into the phone.
RFID-enabled phones.
 
Credit cards already have RFID technology so no they wouldn't make it any bigger. However it is still somewhat pointless, it would really make more sense to do this to a phone.

NO! If your card gets stolen how would you call to report it?
 
This miraculous thing called a "landline". Look around your house, you proably have one under a layer of dust somewhere.

Landlines have been made obsolete for contacting people, at least here. There's wiring for it in our building, but I've never bothered with it. Actually, I think I replaced the phone socket with an Ethernet one. :lol:
 
I think integration of such things is useless and a waste of time. I get around absolutely fine with what I have now, why do we constantly feel the need to "improve"?. Can we not focus on other things that might be more important?
 
Landlines have been made obsolete for contacting people, at least here. There's wiring for it in our building, but I've never bothered with it. Actually, I think I replaced the phone socket with an Ethernet one. :lol:

I'd have to agree with you there I had a landline because my cable company gave me a deal if I had tv, internet and phone but now that the deal ran out I dont have it. Then again even when I had it I had no phone hooked up to it.

BTW you don't need coins to call 1-800 number to cancel your card :p
I think integration of such things is useless and a waste of time. I get around absolutely fine with what I have now, why do we constantly feel the need to "improve"?. Can we not focus on other things that might be more important?
It's a convenience thing, it makes perfect sense to minimize the number of things one has to carry at any given time.
 
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