the official phone of the 2012 Summer Olympics, sports a 4.8-inch screen and an elegant design. It is available from all four major wireless carriers. It also happens to work with JVC’s first MirrorLink-compatible in-dash head unit that
is scheduled to ship at the end of this month. JVC is partnering with Samsung to pro- mote the phone and the head unit’s compatibility with Samsung’s S III. That massive exposure could really put MirrorLink on the map. The double-DIN KW-NSX1 ($599 MSRP) is a first-generation multimedia unit with a 6.1-inch high-resolution WVGA touchscreen so users can enjoy their Samsung Android or Nokia Symbian phone apps. There is also an App Link Mode for use with iPhone and iPod devices. “Now you will see more and more people jump on the bandwagon for MirrorLink,” said Chad Vogelsong, general manager, marketing for JVC’s Mobile Entertainment. “Especially when you get a powerhouse on board like Samsung. Having the Galaxy S III is huge because of the amount of these phones Samsung plans to sell and the fact that it is a worldwide phone.” Alpine will be next. “We anticipate launching a product in 2012 with MirrorLink capability,” confirmed Melvin Diaz, product planning manager of Alpine Electronics of America. The com- pany currently has a unit, the ICS-X8, available in Europe. “It’s just a matter now of bringing this technology to the U.S., but also having the support in the handsets in the U.S. market.”
PICKING A PLATFORM Many are watching what happens from the sidelines. “Right now, MirrorLink matters to those that have handsets compatible with the technology, so Nokia, for instance,” said Keith Lehmann, senior vice president of Kenwood USA. “Well, Nokia doesn’t exist in any great volume here in the U.S. The other manufacturers — Motorola, Samsung, and HTC — have not really adopted the technology to the point where it makes sense for us to come out with product that supports the technology, because then, you’re just unnecessarily burdening the after- market product with that capability. We still think it’s early in the game.” For 2013, Lehmann added, the company will not be embracing MirrorLink technol-
ogy. “A lot of product that we are building is scalable, so if it comes to pass that in the future consumers decide this is really the way to go, they may have that option later on after they’ve purchased a Kenwood radio to possibly support that format.” While almost all the major players in the industry belong to the CCC, it is still
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Alpine already has a MirrorLink-compatible head unit on the market, though not in the U.S. The ICS-X8 currently works with Nokia handsets and is available in Europe. Alpine will launch stateside soon.
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