Alpine Ships Car Radio with 8” Screen

August 2, 2012 by Amy Gilroy  
Filed under Car News, Home Page Featured, Industry news

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Alpine Electronics of America is now shipping a first-of-its-kind in-dash AV/navigation radio with an 8 inch screen to fit a double DIN slot.
The INE-Z928HD works with a special dash kit to create an extra large opening for the radio, and to give the radio a factory finish look.
The radio is one of the first from a leading brand to offer a screen larger than 7 inches.
“We know that new cars are coming with larger screens, which are popular not just for the size, but also because they offer great performance for features like navigation and rear-view cameras,” said Steve Crawford, VP and General Manager of Alpine’s aftermarket business unit.  “Our INE-Z928HD and Perfect F.I.T. dash kit program is an industry game changer, since it’s the first aftermarket 8-inch platform with integrated installation solutions.  We are filling the need for a large-screen format for aftermarket consumers, which then creates sales opportunities for our 12 volt retail specialists.”
The radio is feature-packed with HD Radio, Pandora with Android, iPhone and BlackBerry control and advanced Bluetooth with simple pairing.  It is also SiriusXM ready for SiriusXM 2.0 with extra channels and the screen offers WVGA resolution.
The navigation function includes free lifetime traffic, and 3D views of buildings in major metro areas.  It also automatically zooms in to a map view to show your next turn as you approach it.
It has a “My Favorites” screen that permits users to drag and drop up to 8 shortcut keys for their most-used features.  The settings are stored as a personal profile linked to the user’s phone via Bluetooth.
Users can select from 10 different dash kits that work in about 20 car models.  Additional kits will be available next year.  The kits match the shape, color and texture of the car’s dashboard.  There’s also a universal bezel (KTX-UTB8) to match additional vehicles.
The INE-Z928HD has a street price of $1,499.  Several of the 10 “Perfect F.I.T.” kits are available now, and the rest will ship in September. Most of the kits, sold separately, range in price from $199 to $399.  A kit for the Ford Mustang has  a higher price tag of $599.

Apple is planning a September 12 event to introduce the next version of the iPhone, several news agencies are reporting.
The next generation of the iPhone is expected to sport a thinner but larger screen and it may offer 4G LTE service.  It is also expected to have a smaller dock connector, which could cause temporary headaches for car radios, kits and other iPhone docking products

There have been plenty of false starts for getting Mobile DTV off the ground, but Audiovox told analysts today that it will market Mobile DTV products (that allow digital broadcast TV in a moving vehicle) next year.
“Everybody involved [in Mobile DTV] is in the process of getting ready for next year…We are in the pre-launch stage.  We expect to see sales of mobile DTV in the U.S. some time next year,” said Pat Lavelle, CEO of VOXX (parent of Audiovox Electronics).
Audiovox said it has unique capabilities in receivers and it “plans to exploit that,” according to Lavelle.
It has aligned with MCV–one of two groups of broadcasters pushing Mobile DTV.  MCV includes NBC, Fox,  and ABC and CBS affiliates  and other  major TV station groups. It now has 91 stations on the air with Mobile DTV, reaching 55 percent of TV homes.  (The second broadcaster group is Mobile 500).
VOXX also reported that its sales were up for fiscal Q1  ending in May but it had a net loss for the period due to a patent litigation settlement and other fees related to the purchase of Hirschmann (antenna maker).
Mobile Electronics sales were down, mainly due to remote starters and the timing of certain OEM deals.  A Ford deal ended in the prior quarter but two new Ford contracts plus a Nissan contract begin in Q2, said the company.
VOXX had a charge of $8.4 million to settle a patent litigation suit with  MPEG-LA regarding its 2003 MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License.
Overall sales for VOXX rose 17.4 percent to $194 million for the quarter compared to a year ago.
Electronics sales rose 15.5 percent to $152.8 million compared to $132.3 million a year ago. Hirschmann (acquired in March) accounted for all of the plus sales, or $36.6 million.
About $5.4 million in lost sales is due to the company’s de-emphasis of low margin products.
Accessories sales increased 24.8 percent over last year to $41.2 million.
Electronics represents 78.8 percent of VOXX sales, while the remainder is in accessories.
VOXX maintains its sales target of $900 million for the year and gross profit margins of 28 percent

BMW is adding 4G LTE service to its new infotainment system and new voice control powered by Nuance.
The company’s new BMW LTE Car Hotspot lets you plug in your own 4G SIM card to bring Internet into the car.  The device has its own battery and antenna so you can use it as a portable hotspot as well.  It should be available in November, says The Verge.
With the new BMW ConnectedDrive system, drivers can now respond to text messages and emails by voice as they drive (not just listen to them read aloud as BMW offered in the past).
Also there’s a new controller, first spotted in a prototype A3 interior at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.  Called the iDrive Touch, it adds a touch pad to the company’s earlier hockey-puck-like controller knob in the console (that you can manipulate like a joystick).
With the new system, BMW catches up to and exceeds some of Audi’s tech offerings. Audi was one of the first automakers to provide embedded 4G service.
The new BMW system also has some trick navigation features made possible by a 1.3 GHZ processor and dedicated graphics chip, says Autopia.  At different distances to the next turn, you get different navigation views. The system offers virtual 3-D views of course.
The new Nuance voice control will become available this month in the 2012 7 series and it will move to the 3 Series and ActiveHybrid models later in the year.

Kenwood will begin selling 2 car radio models at Walmart stores beginning in September, the company confirmed.
The radios are entry-level models including a $95 radio and will be “derivatives,” offering slightly different features than typical Kenwood radios.
Alpine would then become the only remaining top 5 car radio brand that is not sold through Walmart.
Kenwood said it made the difficult decision to enter Walmart in order “to sustain volume in a flat business environment.  We felt this was the most controllable and responsible way to do it, as opposed to online marketplace merchants,” said Senior VP Consumer Electronics Keith Lehmann.
He noted, that Kenwood is only offering 2 SKUs through the mass merchant.  “There’s no attempt whatsoever to place the full line of product at Walmart.”
Lehmann said the Walmart deal will give Kenwood the incremental sales that will help it keep the Excelon program for car audio specialists intact.
Kicker will also enter Walmart in September with a limited number of car amplifiers and speakers.

http://www.parkwaycarstereo.com/brands.html

Starting this fall, Apple will offer its own Maps feature that can give you turn-by-turn directions and traffic, all voice controlled via Siri.
The Maps offer a cool feature called “Flyover,” which allows users to see a 3D view of buildings. Apple gathered its own imagery by using planes and helicopters to collect data for the 3D models, said Technology Review by MIT. Users can use their fingers to zoom in and out of the 3D view, a feature similar to one debuted by Google last week for Google Maps.
Apple Maps will also offer turn-by-turn direction (for the first time from Apple) with traffic updates collected by anonymous data from iOS users (crowdsourced, real-time traffic).
TomTom provides the maps for the feature (replacing Google).
The Maps are linked to Siri so users can ask for directions to the nearest gas station, for example.  They are part of the new iOS6 Apple operating system that is released this fall.

Updated! Apple announced today at its Worldwide Developers Conference that Siri will be offered via a steering wheel control button by 9 leading car makers within the next 12 months.
BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chysler, and Honda will provide a button on the steering wheel that will work with Siri—Apple’s voice driven personal assistant, which also received an update Monday. (Notice, Ford, with its Sync and MyFord Touch is not included in the mix).
Scott Forstall, head of Apple  iOS development. introduced the steering wheel feature calling it “eyes free.” As it “Lets you keep hands on steering wheel while you’re using your phone,” according to a live blog of the event via MacWorld.
Siri, under new iO6, will also now deliver sports information, movie information, send your tweets and launch apps.
Siri will also be  integrated with Facebook so you can just speak to post on Facebook.  (See our story earlier today, which just may be completely wrong now).
The new version of Siri can also activate a new Maps function from Apple that includes turn-by-turn directions.  Maps also has re-routing and the ability to zoom out to see a wider surrounding area.
The new Siri also allows you to make restaurant reservations through integration with OpenTable and Yelp.
In terms of sports, you will be able to ask, “What was the score of the last Giants game?”  Siri will tell you players’ stats by name, and show a player “card” displayed on the screen, said Barron’s live blog of the presentation.
You may recall Apple recently patented a steering wheel control device.   The controls pictured during the conference (via Gizmodo) showed a simple Siri button but not the “click wheel” in the Apple patent.
By the way, the new iOS6 also permits FaceTime video chat over 3G (not just WiFi, as in the past).  It will be available, along with the new Siri features this fall.