<<looks like CDMA devices in automobiles is closer than I thought <<
Could be in the next few months.....
GM to Team With Bell Atlantic on Cellular Service, People Say
cnetinvestor.com
Detroit, Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. is in talks with Bell Atlantic Corp. to put cell phones in millions of new cars and trucks, part of the No. 1 automaker's strategy to link drivers to the Internet and generate revenue after a sale, people familiar with the plan said.
GM said today it will install as many as 1 million phones in vehicles this year but wouldn't say which telecommunications company it was talking to. The people said an agreement with Bell Atlantic, the No. 2 U.S. local phone company, may come as early as next week. The companies declined to comment......
....OnStar could generate $40 a month in revenue per vehicle, Hogan said, and GM eventually plans to install the hardware for the service on almost all of the 9 million vehicles it makes annually.....
....Bell Atlantic said Monday it added 874,000 wireless customers in the fourth quarter, bringing its total to 7.7 million, as it completed the acquisition of Frontier Cellular and as shoppers snapped up digital cellular phones as holiday gifts.....
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GM to Become Only Automotive Company on NetZero's Web Site
cnetinvestor.com
Detroit, Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. said it signed an agreement making it the only automotive company to appear on NetZero Inc.'s Internet site, as the world's largest automaker tries to reach more consumers online.....
....The agreement comes days after GM announced an alliance with America Online Inc. to link its car-sales Web site to AOL. The two agreements complement each other, Hogan said. AOL is a big, globally known brand name, like GM, while NetZero is smaller and more specialized, he said.....
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GM's Jack Smith: Next-Day Delivery to Dealers, via the
Net
businessweek.com
....Q: Will customers want a lot of Internet-communications capability in their cars?
A: I think they'll want it and they'll be willing to pay for it. We have a lot of great features coming to our vehicles. In the second quarter of this year, we'll introduce an Internet system [that] will read your e-mails to you in your car. It's like listening to your radio, only you'll be listening to your messages and talking to your [windshield] visor to answer back. Add to that satellite radio, which is coming -- 100 channels of national radio.
Q: So, you're looking for additional incremental revenue from the Net?
A: Yes. It's a subscriber business. If you look at Hughes (the Direct TV satellite operation that is a unit of GM's Hughes Corp.), Wall Street values it at around $3,000 per subscriber. Satellite radio Onstar with onboard navigation is a terrific opportunity.
Q: Do you ever see Internet services as being more profitable for GM than the actual car?
A: The value of the vehicle is so high that I don't ever see that. I don't want to lose [sight] of what we do. The platform is the vehicle, so the vehicle has to be
great. Our program for the auto business is to stay focused on getting great products into the market. But this other [Internet] business is also important. We need to work both sides of it.
Q: Will this give Cadillac, for example, a lead over Lincoln and Mercedes?
A: In my opinion, that's a relatively short window [of opportunity] because all manufacturers will eventually do the same kinds of services. We'll be early leaders but I think it would be foolish to think that this will lead to significant increases in vehicle sales.
Q: Have you done any studies of the potential safety hazards of overloading people with too much information while they're driving?
A: This isn't too much different from listening to the radio. The systems we're talking about are actually much safer than what we use today because you won't have to hold the phone. The controls are on the steering wheel. We have
an advantage over anyone coming in later and offering to [install] such a system because we can make it safer than anybody else. We believe that's a huge advantage and is why people will want to buy this sort of system factory-installed.
Q: Do you have any studies on how strong a buying point this is with customers?
A: Surprisingly strong. The study I'm familiar with is on the Cadillac Escalade.
It was a plus as to why customers purchased the vehicle. It was a standout feature.....
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OnStar and General Magic Sign Agreement To Provide
Voice Enabled Services in Vehicles
biz.yahoo.com |
