Zipcar announces new iPhone app, gives new meaning to "unlocked" cell phone
If you're not an Apple fanboy who's been hitting F5 repeatedly over on Engadget today, here's a green car tie-in from the big WWDC that's just wrapping up: your iPhone will soon be able to unlock the doors of your Zipcar rental vehicle. Yes, your phone can now tell your car what to do. It's only a matter of time before Dr. Horrible's remote control app becomes a reality.
Zipcar's Luke Schneider explained to the WWDC crowd that the new Zipcar app allows you to find a nearby and available car and reserve it for you. The app shows prices and we can see an "alerts" tab for, presumably, alerts. More details are not yet available, but you can find two more pictures after the jump and the rest of the Apple/iPhone news here.
[Source: Engadget]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
win39 4:38PM (6/08/2009)
"If you're not an Apple fanboy who's been hitting F5 repeatedly over on Engadget today..."
Why would you keep changing the volume? Oh, I get it. F5 must be "refresh" on a PC. PC fanboys can't even get a gratuitous insult right.
Reply
Sebastian 4:52PM (6/08/2009)
Hehe. On my MBP, F5 is backlight control. But it's used to refresh a webpage on most computers, no? http://www.squidoo.com/f5
Nick P. 4:57PM (6/08/2009)
With this move, Zip shows yet again what it means to focus on "user experience". They figured that there was an overlap between iPhone users and the cool urban dwellers who use their service. So they wrote an iPhone app to address their needs.
Can you imagine the goodwill GM would have generated just by doing something similar? Tons of free PR for weeks...
Reply
meme 5:06PM (6/08/2009)
"It's only a matter of time before Dr. Horrible's remote control app becomes a reality."
------
Penny: You're not really interested in the homeless, are you?
Billy: No, I am, but... It's a symptom. You're treating a symptom, and the disease rages on, consumes the human race. The fish rots from the head, as they say. So what I'm thinking is, why not cut off the head?
Penny: ...Of the human race?
Billy: It's not a... perfect metaphor...
------
Thanks, Sebastian, for reminding me of that show ;)
Reply
Sebastian 8:31PM (6/08/2009)
It's a great 45 minutes of video entertainment. I love the part when she asks what he's doing, and he says (paraphrasing), "I'm texting. I'd stop but it's really important." awesome.
meme 1:46AM (6/09/2009)
Freeze ray. Tell your friends.
;)
km 6:03PM (6/08/2009)
i hope iphone users represent a significant portion of the people who use the zipcar service... considering the phones low marketshare of the cellphone and smartphone industry...
Reply
bluegreen 11:37PM (6/08/2009)
Ten percent of the market in Q1 2009 is considered low? There are 17 million iPhones out there and 65% of all mobile web traffic originates from iPhones or iPod Touches. Have you been to NYC or SF? Practically every other person you see under the age of 35 has an iPhone. I don't have numbers but I would guess those are Zipcar's two biggest markets. So to answer your question, yes, the iPhone and Zipcar demographics overlap nicely and no, the iPhone is not a "low marketshare" non-competitor.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/best-in-business/2008/06/05/zipcar-redefines-the-rental-car.html
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/05/20/iphone-market-share-doubled-in-q1-gartner/
cwalkerjr 7:48AM (6/09/2009)
Please, PLEASE stop this conversation now.
I read ABG when I DON'T want to take part in the phone flame wars.
Reply
unlock cell phone 6:37AM (7/17/2009)
Hi,
Well there are lot of advantages are in unlock cell phone during using we can open different functions at a time and can lock them in a different code and this cell phone is much more comfortable to use..
Reply
danny 2:28PM (11/06/2009)
Recently i unlocked my 3GS 3.1.2 iphone and i want to know if its safe, i used http://www.unlock-iphone.org , please tell me if its safe
Reply