VW’s iPhone Site
With the iPhone being around for close to two years now, one might have assumed that most car companies would have a website designed for it. Typically this is not the case. The always-hip VW is one exception. They built a clean and simple site formatted to look good and work well on the iPhone. It offers some basic information about their models, a dealer locator and an “Assistance” page. Best of all – you only need to type in vw.com in the address bar. No unnecessarily complicated Urls.
The site is a very “safe” corporate approach. No risks taken. No real use of the opportunities offered by a mobile platform. The site could have been so much more if only approached from beyond the lowest common denominator of the corporate safety zone.
If the site had been developed more with consumers in mind, we might have seen:
- Actual inventory lists from local dealers
- User ratings of local dealerships
- Text search
- Useful information for current owners such as user guides or vehicle specific information
Even from a company perspective more could have been done:
- Current APRs or incentives right on the home page
- Dealer incentives or specials per dealer located
- Build or price with options functionality
- List of pre-owned inventory
Some of these items would clearly require a lot more development effort and may therefore have been too expensive given the general state of the auto industry, and the relative small size of the smart phone ownership. However, some are really low hanging fruit such as current incentives, or detailed vehicle information. Most of it exists online already. VW even has a whole section devoted to videos showing specific features of their cars. The content is there. Just use it.
Even though VW could have done more, I applaud them for at least offering something for smart phone users. Where are all the brands that call themselves technologically advanced and cutting edge? Where is Audi? BMW? Mercedes-Benz? Cadillac?
Granted, some of those companies made specific iPhone games. But how does that really benefit the consumer?