Vista, Calif. – Directed Electronics launched one of
the first apps that will remote start a car using an iPhone instead of a key-fob
transmitter.
The Viper SmartStart app requires a $299 module that went on sale
at Best Buy stores this month and will be available at other retailers in the
fourth quarter. The app also requires a Viper remote starter, and Best Buy is
offering a $499 package that includes the SmartStart module and a remote
starter with door lock/unlock.
The app, free on Apple’s App Store, gives the remote starter
virtually unlimited range, so users can remote start the car from miles away. The
iPhone then communicates with the wireless SmartStart module, which tells the
car to start. The app can also lock and unlock doors, arm and disarm a security
system, pop the trunk and act as a panic button or car finder, said Directed
Electronics president, Kevin Duffy.
“For our retailers, it gives them something to bring excitement
to the remote-start category. It gives them something exciting and new to talk
about,” said Duffy.
Best Buy will support Smart Start with advertising, and the
product will be featured as an end cap display at its stores, said Duffy.
Directed said it worked on the app for the past six months, doing
much of the development itself, although it partnered with app developers as
well. iPhone apps “definitely open up a brand new opportunity for us. We see a
lot of opportunities for smartphone integration. This is version one, and we
see more coming,” Duffy said.
The app can also work with an iPod Touch over Wi-Fi.
