[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW Online Adds Yelp to Suite of Services

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New application lets customers find businesses and get reviews

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – December 21, 2011… BMW today announced that users of BMW Online in the US can now access Yelp in their vehicles. With Yelp on-board, customers can search for everything from the best local restaurants and boutiques to parking garages and banks. They are able to see ratings for those businesses while hearing reviews read out to them via the vehicle’s text-to-speech feature. With the recent update to BMW Online’s layout, BMW can seamlessly add new features (known as “applications”) as they become available. Yelp is the first such application and there will be more to follow.

Customers who subscribe to the optional BMW Assist Convenience Plan and have a navigation-equipped vehicle capable of receiving the BMW Online service will be able to add the service today, without having to make any changes to their vehicle. Yelp reviews can be accessed through the new Applications screen that is now part of BMW Online with the update which took place earlier this month.

BMW Online is just one of the many ConnectedDrive services available to BMW customers. BMW ConnectedDrive combines various elements from online applications, driver assistance, call center services and solutions for the integration of mobile devices. As a result, BMW customers are provided with an exceptional form of mobility, with more safety, more convenience, and more infotainment.

The BMW Online Yelp application has several exciting features:

• Category Search – Search by category for nearby restaurants, cafes, shopping, nightlife, and more.




• Results Overview - Results are sorted by distance and star ratings, and also list category information and number of reviews.




• Details – Selecting a particular place gives more details about it. Customers can see the rating, address, distance, phone number, and information about reviews. Additionally, they can e-mail details of the business to themselves or any other e-mail address.




• Reviews – The 3 latest reviews are available for the business. The customer can select one of those reviews and have it read back automatically.





BMW Online is available exclusively to Convenience Plan subscribers on BMW Assist with on-board Navigation system on the following models:

• 2009 and later Z4, 1, 3 and 7 Series
• 2010 and later 5 and 6 Series
• 2010 and later X5 and X6
• 2011 and later X3.

[M-Power111]

these are top notch apps, love the technology of these new cars.

[stefan]

Are we able to get this in Canada?

[DASHOCKER]

gotta love bmw. i cant wait!

[Bols]

Originally Posted by M-Power111

these are top notch apps, love the technology of these new cars.

+1 wish this would fly over to Europe much much faster

[alex2364]

Did no one see the fine print where you have to subscribe to the optional BMW Assist Convenience Plan? Sorry, it's not worth $199/year.

[M-Power111]

Originally Posted by alex2364

Did no one see the fine print where you have to subscribe to the optional BMW Assist Convenience Plan? Sorry, it's not worth $199/year.

well a frequent traveler might find it worth it.

[TheBry]

Cool! It just magically appeared in my car. I'm a frequent Yelp! user, so having access via iDrive means I no longer have to pull over and detach my iPhone from the cradle. Nice touch!

[jzj]

This is exactly the kind of added value I expected to get with BMW Apps, which cost me $250. Instead, BMW wants another $199! If features like Yelp are going to be part of BMW Online Services, what more, if anything, can we expect to be added to BMW Apps? (Facebook and Twitter integration is not important to me, but Yelp, I would have liked.)

[SIN_CITY_TROLL]

Hey Jason,

I just got off the phone with BMW Assist (12/21/2011) and they had NO IDEA what I was talking about this feature. Can you confirm this works as of todays date?

[G2G]

[es1]

but have given you YELP !!! Awesome !

[DLerner]

Yep, looks like BMW has figured out that the $199. per year online fee is where the money is. Plus, the number of potential customers (everyone with nav) is larger and the cell phone compatibility issue goes away.

For those of us that shelled out the $250. for BMW apps, looks like we lose.

[thurston]

That's pretty awesome, but I don't think I'll be droppin' 200 bones a year for it. I have Yelp on my iPhone. I did pay for BMW Apps though in hopes of eventually integrating all of it's apps/email into iDrive. Hmm....will it happen ever?

[MPort13]

BMW just keeps on nickel and diming us huh? Since this app is free on my iPhone, why can't they just include it as a free app? That would be "added value" that would be great to have but they want you to pay $199/yr? No thanks.

[stealth.pilot]

I agree this should be part of Apps. BMW Online and BMW Apps should be the same thing.

The Concierge service should be the fee based service.

Since I pay for the concierge service anyway, it's left pocket right pocket to me, but it is not competitive. BTW the new Lexus GS has apps including Yelp, Pandora, Opentable, Facebook, etc. and this feature is included with the navigation. No $199 a year, and no $250 extra to get apps.

[mhaghighi]

so if i dont have the BMW app but i do have the yearly plan can i get this and how?