Car Chute

Directed Electronics today announced the availability of its popular Viper SmartStart app on the Google Android smartphone platform. The free app is available at www.viper.com and the Android Market.

Viper SmartStart is available to users with iPhones, BlackBerry smartphones, and now Android smartphones. When the Viper SmartStart hardware is installed on the user’s vehicle along with a compatible Viper remote start or security system, the app allows users to control their car from virtually anywhere with their smartphone.

Users with a Viper remote start system can start their engine with the push of a button, to pre-warm it in the winter or pre-cool it in the summer.

Depending on the installation, users can also lock and unlock the doors, pop the trunk, or arm their security system and get an alert on their smartphone if their alarm is triggered. Users can even control multiple cars from one smartphone.

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Mercedes-Benz Financial, which has received more than $5 million in lease and loan payments from customers via their mobile phone devices since becoming the first auto finance company to establish that payment channel late last year, is now taking its mobile strategy to the showroom floor to benefit dealers and customers.

Mercedes-Benz Financial today announced that it is putting the Apple iPad into the hands of its dealers, becoming the first automotive finance company to give dealers mobile access to its proprietary point-of-sale dealer system called MB Advantage. In doing so, Mercedes-Benz Financial is one of the first companies to adapt the consumer-oriented iPad as a mobile business tool.

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