Mobile Briefs

INDIANAPOLIS — The Mobile Enhancement Retailers Association (MERA) announced that KnowledgeFest 2007 will be held in Knoxville, Tenn., March 17-20 at the Knoxville Convention Center.

The organization is currently seeking “top-notch industry professionals” to lead workshops at KnowledgeFest.

MERA is also launching a regional educational tour, beginning in the Boston area, followed by Los Angeles and Seattle.

The tour is sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association as well as individual suppliers. It begins May 21 at the Sheraton Colonial Hotel and Golf Club in Wakefield, Mass.

Workshops for the regional tour include installation training sessions and seminars for salesmen and business owners. Tickets are $49.95 per person.

Next year, MERA hopes to extend the tour to four to six cities, said a spokeswoman.

New York — Satellite radio was offered in more than half the vehicle trim lines in new cars for early 2006, according to Autobytel.com, the Internet-based car buying service.

Satellite radio was available in 1,123 of 2,015 vehicle trim lines early this year, although some of these were 2007 models. XM was available in 680 trim levels, and Sirius was available in 598.

Nearly every automaker is offering the service with seven automakers giving motorists a choice, including Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Lexus and Scion, as well as Audi and Volkswagen; however, the latter two announced they will offer Sirius exclusively starting in 2007.

WALNUT, Calif. — Bravo View plans to ship a true DIN-sized car PC that will work with video screens. The unit is Bluetooth enabled with a 1GB processor, 256MB of DDR memory and a 30GB hard drive. It also has four USB inputs and two PS2 inputs and will ship in April/May at a suggested retail price of $999.