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The big theme of MWC: How to live in a connected world

Kevin Fitchard — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:55:38 +0000

It has been just over a week since the Fira de Barcelona gates closed on Mobile World Congress 2012, so now is a good time for a retrospective look at the event. The big thing at MWC wasn’t a phone or new network architecture but the much more subtle shift in focus on how we live in a hyperconnected world. This year the industry seemed to move beyond starry-eyed soothsaying about a world of 50 billion connected devices to start talking about how these mammoth networks of objects and appliances would actually work and how they would be managed.

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Why Zipcar is tapping the college market

Adam Lesser — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:00:55 +0000

Zipcar’s decision last week to make a strategic investment in peer-to-peer car-sharing startup Wheelz surprised many. But Wheelz is another way for Zipcar to access a young demographic, college students, which it has been courting for some time as a way to build its relationship with not only customers but also automakers.

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Zipcar backs peer-to-peer car sharing startup Wheelz

Ucilia Wang — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:37:20 +0000

Will car sharing pioneer Zipcar move into the emerging industry of peer-to-peer car sharing, or enabling neighbors to rent out other neighbors’ vehicles? Well, Zipcar hasn’t launched such a service, but it’s invested in one of the new peer-to-peer car sharing startups Wheelz, the companies announced on Wednesday.

Wheelz, which only launched last September at Stanford University, has raised a Series A round of $13.7 million from Zipcar as well as Detroit-based transportation investors Fontinalis Partners. Other peer-to-peer car sharing startups like RelayRides and Getaround have also found major backing from venture capitalists and auto companies.

While Zipcar buys and owns (or leases) its own fleet of cars for sharing, Wheelz is promoting the use of other people’s cars. Wheelz also is targeting a narrower audience to start: college towns and connecting students who have cars with those who don’t but need them. The idea is to provide money-making opportunities for students, many of whom don’t need their cars often if they live on or close to campus, while making it easier for those who need rides for trips to, say, grocery stores or weekend outings.

Wheelz joins a growing number of companies promoting the idea of collaborative consumption, which refers to the use of the web for sharing goods and services (see GigaOm Pro’s analysis of the trend). It maximizes the use of stuff, while reducing clutter and waste. The concept works not just in sharing cars but sharing living spaces and has spawned a series of startups across verticals, such as RelayRides, thredUP and Airbnb.

While car sharing isn’t mainstream, it has gotten enough traction among consumers, particularly the younger urbanites, to spawn at least a dozen startups in cities around the world. Peer-to-peer car sharing especially has caught the fancy of investors and entrepreneurs, and there were at least five peer-to-peer car sharing businesses here in the San Francisco Bay Area alone as of last fall. The business model also arguably involves more logistics and liability issues because the companies don’t own the vehicles and must ensure that both loaners and borrowers are happy with the service.

Right now, car sharing services like those from Zipcar and City Car Share tend to offer members the ability to rent cars in 15 minute integrals, and cars are parked around urban areas, can be unlocked using a key fob, and can be reserved on the web or a cell phone. In addition, car sharing services often include fuel in the service fee. In contrast, more traditional car rental businesses tend to rent cars through actual stores, mostly rent cars only during business hours, and most of the time, don’t include fuel in the price.

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TuneIn Radio takes its streaming act on the road

Ryan Kim — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:01:24 +0000

TuneIn has become a powerhouse in streaming music, helping 30 million of users connect to local radio content via its TuneIn Radio mobile apps. The Palo Alto, CA company is now ramping up efforts to bring its service to a very logical place: cars.

TuneIn announced Tuesday that it is being integrated into Ford’s Sync AppLink platform, which enables users of Ford Sync-enabled vehicles to control apps using voice controls. Users will be able to access TuneIn Radio’s more than 50,000 FM, AM, HD and Internet radio stations, and will be able to conduct voice searches for artists or genres or explore top stations using their location information. The news follows an announcement last week that TuneIn was launching a “car mode” for its Android app, allowing users to use voice commands to conduct searches and find music.

TuneIn is already in use on more than 150 devices such as the Logitech Squeezebox and Sonos’ line of connected speaker. And it’s been integrated into certain BMW and Mini vehicles, but that service was white labeled. Now, the company expects to announce a lot more branded deals with auto companies this year and beyond as it tries to conquer the in-car experience, something Internet radio leader Pandora has got a big head start on.

John Donham, CEO of TuneIn, told me about 100,000 TuneIn Radio users utilize the service through in-car solutions, though many more probably connect to the serivce with in-car Bluetooth. But he said he believes there’s a great opportunity to expand TuneIn’s presence, because about half of radio listening is done in-car. He said TuneIn’s ability to find relevant music and content for users is a big step up over existing radio, which is still one of the most popular ways for people to discover new music.

“There is tons of compelling content on the radio all the time but there hasn’t been a spectacular interface for finding it. We see that as a huge opportunity,” Donham said.

Donham said future deployments of TuneIn in vehicles will be able to integrate with a car’s FM chip to provide local stations, and then seamlessly switch over to streaming radio when a car travels beyond FM broadcasting range. That’s important as users face more data caps that can put a crunch on streaming services.

Donham said despite the belief that 8-tracks, taps and CDs would kill radio, nothing has. And apps like TuneIn Radio show the enduring popularity of the medium.

“The Ford deal is just the beginning for us,” said Donham. “I think a lot of listening will shift to digital. We’re seeing people using digital dashboard rather than their analog dash.”

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The Internet of things: creating tomorrow’s health care

Jody Ranck — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:20:23 +0000

By 2020 it is estimated that 20–50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. Many of these devices will be collecting health data or will be connected to health and medical devices in the home, the hospital or the wider environment. The Internet of things (IoT), meanwhile, refers to the growth of sensors and things that connect to the Internet via RFID, Bluetooth, ZigBee and satellite. In health care, its growth is likely to open new disruptive business opportunities for services that add value to the data collected. This paper provides a preliminary overview of the landscape of opportunities and drivers in the current health and health care environments and highlights some of the challenges that remain. Companies mentioned in this report include IBM, Arrayent Health, Kaiser Permanente and Ford. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

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How “connectedness” changes the car? A conversation with Ford CTO [Video]

Om Malik — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:27:23 +0000

Ford Motor Company’s chief technology officer Paul Mascarenas has been working with the Dearborn, Michigan-based car company for nearly 30 years. In three decades he has seen the car become an electronics powerhouse, packed with chips that control everything from fuel injection to the chassis alignment. And that is the start. From Pandora to Facebook to smart sensors, Mascarenas, who sat down with me last week, shares his roadmap for the future of cars in the era of connectedness.

Watch this video for free on GigaOM

For further reading on connected cars, check out the following posts.

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