Saab Automobile & Sony-Ericsson Partnership

Posted on 09. Oct, 2008 by in 2000-2009

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Photo Credit: Saab History

There has been quite a lot of news lately about a Saab Automobile & Sony-Ericsson Partnership, but the applicability to the general public seems far out of reach.

This partnership involves the development of the Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1 Windows Mobile handset that will apparently be able to control both the Saab 9-X BioHybrid & Saab 9-X Air Concept cars.

All of the stuff you have never imagined or probably have been worried that automanufacturers were going to do, is now apparently being developed.

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According to Slash Gear:

“Xperia owners would be able to remotely control ambient lighting, lock the car, control seating, switch the lights on and off, and open the rear compartment, all via Bluetooth.”

While this is all fun and good, who are the ones that will actually be able to use this technology today besides the Saab & Sony-Ericsson developers and designers and maybe some top level Saab executives in Sweden or Germany in some closed laboratory?

I am also surprised that Saab is working with Sony-Ericsson instead of Apple, because as we know Saab owners and Apple owners share a lot more common ties.

It would have been nice to see if perhaps this development would have been directly applicable to future vehicles that people can actually own instead of solely for concept cars that are out of reach, except for the auto show circuit and the Saab Car Museum.

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7 Responses to “Saab Automobile & Sony-Ericsson Partnership”

  1. Jim_Arlington_Saab

    10. Oct, 2008

    Ryan – the economy is crashing, and so will ad budgets. Found a 9 to 5 yet? Don’t end up like this guy with a blog.
    http://truecasey.com/

    Reply to this comment

  2. Ryan

    10. Oct, 2008

    Jim,

    Thanks for your thoughts.

    Where is Arlington Saab exactly?

    I also tried to e-mail you at jlm@gmail.com and it bounces stating that it’s an invalid e-mail address.

    Reply to this comment

  3. Matt

    10. Oct, 2008

    My question is this: Is there specific hardware built into the phone to provide these features? If it’s simply done through bluetooth, I think they definitely need to do something with the iPhone. Or at least offer integration with calls, etc.

    Reply to this comment

  4. Ryan

    10. Oct, 2008

    The big question once again that I have is:

    Will this product actually be available to the public and if so when exactly?

    What’s the point if it is a product for a car that does not exist for public consumption even if the phone does.

    It’s like keys to a car that is not there, pointless..

    Reply to this comment

  5. Jim_Arlington_Saab

    10. Oct, 2008

    Former marketing director of a major Saab dealer, now living in Arglington Virginia. Found your blog ironically at dcblogs.com.

    Reply to this comment

  6. Ryan

    10. Oct, 2008

    Jim,

    Thanks! Yes, I used to live in Washington, D.C. hence the listing on dcblogs.com

    What do you do now that you are no longer a marketing director at a Saab dealership for your “9-5″ gig? Which dealership was this, International Motors in Northern Virginia or somewhere else?

    Have you enjoyed the material I have provided on Saab History since 2006?

    Could you provide me an e-mail address that works, so I can actually e-mail you? I tried sending to the Jlm@gmail.com and it failed again, perhaps you’re not typing in the correct e-mail address here hence the bouncing?

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Reply to this comment

  7. Ted Y

    10. Oct, 2008

    Better Sony-Ericsson than Apple. After all, what is Apple? It’s the company that couldn’t make its own operating system. They had to euthanize it (OS 9) and take the freely available Berkeley BSD, FreeBSD, and Net BSD, and build their OS X GUI on top of that (Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but mostly true). I’m absolutely a Saab guy, but I’ll never own any Apple product. I think Linux has much more in common with Saab.
    The death of OS 9 is on Youtube here (funny):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7xQ8i3fc0

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