Introduced a year ago as a single product, AppRadio—Pioneer’s smartphone connection system for car radios—is now in 5 car radios and will be expanding in the next 6 months to many additional Pioneer models.
You can expect to see it in “quite a few more models” in another 6 months, said Pioneer VP Marketing, Ted Cardenas during CEA Line Shows in NY, Tuesday night.
The AppRadio platform basically turns the car into a speaker dock and the radio into a controller for your smartphone.
Pioneer is taking steps to add more apps that work with system, which currently lets a limited number of apps appear on your car radio screen with control via the radio.
“We’ve been flooded with contacts from app developers,” Cardenas said, so the company announced a new web site Tuesday dedicated to developers who want to bring their app to a 7-inch car radio screen. The site, www.appradiodev.com, will help speed up the process of getting apps to market by cutting out red tape and helping deliver development kits quicker.
AppRadio 2, launched 10 weeks ago, is now compatible with 15 models of Android phones, a number expected to grow significantly as more phones use the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android. It also works with the iPhone.
Cardenas also hinted that Pioneer is working with an additional phone platform beyond the iPhone and Android phones. “We want to position the AppRadio as an agnostic device,” he added.
Among the other AppRadio products are 3 Pioneer decks with built-in “App Mode,” which performs the same functions as AppRadio but without the capacitive touch screen, so you can’t pinch and zoom. Models with AppMode include the AVIC-Z140BH, AVIC-X940BT and AVH-P8400BH. The original AppRadio that works only with the iPhone also remains in the line.
Source: Pioneer Electronics
