Onstar app for windows phone

[solar_dave]

Windows sucks! I have been in IT for over 25 years but I will never buy anything that has a Micro$oft operating system again. I don't blame GM for ignoring it. If the security on the phone OS is anything like historical desktop or server OSs I can see their reluctance.

One thing they did do is create lots of jobs at Norton, McAfee .....

[tboult]

Do you want me to find a Prius sales vs. Volt sales chart and then say that clearly, as this chart suggests, Volt sales are insignificant and thus should be ignored? Clearly you have never used the new Windows phone... they are the best mobile OS out there. And I don't work for Microsoft, but I am an IT guy. After letting my coworkers play with my phone... 2 of them have switched and now have Windows Phones.

All that being said... it really shouldn't be difficult to port it over to WP7... get to it GM!

If you find a chart showing Volt sales down significantly while total market sales are up significantly, I'd be worried.
New product that are increasing their market share cannot be as easily ignored. Those that are losing both absolute numbers and share are in trouble.

On the other hand there are very few people doing apps for the Volt compared to the Prius, so your point is already an established market fact (Volt toys are nacent).

I've tested WP7, and even have teams of students doing development for it. I was under-impressed, and consider the gamble of the team doing development likely to be a bust. I've not written it off, but they are unhappy with the market's "non-growth". I'm an IT guy too (CS Prof and run my own company). As I see it WP7 is only useful if you are deeply in the MS world. If you are a unix shop, its nearly useless. If your a mac-shop, not to useful. If you don't have a IT office for integration probably not that great.

If you think its not much to port it over, you've probably not done much native Xcode development or Android (Java). If you have a C# windows app with no serious UI, its easy to port. If you have XNA work for the xbox its painful but doable. (Making things smaller is not really mobile development). If GM did their development native for each platform, its non-trivial.

Fixing myvolt.com so it renders properly and can use your pin for remote start is probably a reasonable investment.

[stuart]

I emailed my OnStar engineering contact this morning and asked for the status of Windows Phone 7 and remote link.
Hopefully we will have a response shortly.

Stuart B2209

[Kefala]

I emailed my OnStar engineering contact this morning and asked for the status of Windows Phone 7 and remote link.
Hopefully we will have a response shortly.

Stuart B2209

That's great. Hope the response is positive.

[ChuckB]

I emailed my OnStar engineering contact this morning and asked for the status of Windows Phone 7 and remote link.
Hopefully we will have a response shortly.

Stuart B2209

Thanks Stuart.

[ChuckB]

Windows sucks! I have been in IT for over 25 years but I will never buy anything that has a Micro$oft operating system again. I don't blame GM for ignoring it. If the security on the phone OS is anything like historical desktop or server OSs I can see their reluctance.

One thing they did do is create lots of jobs at Norton, McAfee .....

OK, I don't know any ACTUAL IT people that say "Micro$oft"... and considering the most infected Smartphones on the market are Androids... not Microsoft... try looking into what you say first...

[ChuckB]

If you find a chart showing Volt sales down significantly while total market sales are up significantly, I'd be worried.
New product that are increasing their market share cannot be as easily ignored. Those that are losing both absolute numbers and share are in trouble.

On the other hand there are very few people doing apps for the Volt compared to the Prius, so your point is already an established market fact (Volt toys are nacent).

I've tested WP7, and even have teams of students doing development for it. I was under-impressed, and consider the gamble of the team doing development likely to be a bust. I've not written it off, but they are unhappy with the market's "non-growth". I'm an IT guy too (CS Prof and run my own company). As I see it WP7 is only useful if you are deeply in the MS world. If you are a unix shop, its nearly useless. If your a mac-shop, not to useful. If you don't have a IT office for integration probably not that great.

If you think its not much to port it over, you've probably not done much native Xcode development or Android (Java). If you have a C# windows app with no serious UI, its easy to port. If you have XNA work for the xbox its painful but doable. (Making things smaller is not really mobile development). If GM did their development native for each platform, its non-trivial.

Fixing myvolt.com so it renders properly and can use your pin for remote start is probably a reasonable investment.

Nope, not a programmer, so you're right, I don't know what's actually involved... I have just read that MS does have tools that "allegedly" make it easy, but I have no idea what that entails...

And to answer another question/comment - even putting the phone into Desktop mode instead of Mobile, still has issues formatting the PIN, it skips a number and just acts strange. And WP7 (the Mango update) supposedly uses the same IE9 code that works just fine on my PC... so who knows what the issue is.

[solar_dave]

OK, I don't know any ACTUAL IT people that say "Micro$oft"... and considering the most infected Smartphones on the market are Androids... not Microsoft... try looking into what you say first...

Sorry if you think that but they lost me years ago, and I stand by my statements, I would not even consider a Windows phone, in my book it is not an option.

As far as me being in IT I have work for several big firms including IBM, AMEX, eBay, NMCI, Schwab, DOE and several others over the years, hardly mom and pop shops. I never said the Windows phone were infected, but historically there OSs are the most vulnerable.

[ChuckB]

Sorry if you think that but they lost me years ago, and I stand by my statements, I would not even consider a Windows phone, in my book it is not an option.

As far as me being in IT I have work for several big firms including IBM, AMEX, eBay, NMCI, Schwab, DOE and several others over the years, hardly mom and pop shops. I never said the Windows phone were infected, but historically there OSs are the most vulnerable.

And historically, GM never made our beloved Volts... just saying.

Most popular is always the most vulnerable. I have always believed that once MS was knocked from its #1 position, whatever became #1 would be most targeted, and most infected. (which it has... in phones, Android is surging ahead, and is now getting infected at a higher rate... Apple is doing better, and they are also getting viruses and malware now...) Any system can be configured properly and be secure. I run Windows 7, IE9, Microsoft's free AV (all you Windows users out there, there is no need to pay for AV, Microsoft offers it free now, and its quite good), and have no issues. Ever. Just because Microsoft used to strangle competition back in the day... doesn't mean they still are all bad. I don't trust google at ALL anymore.

Anyway, sorry all for getting off topic...

Go Volt!

[SeattleRoger]

If GM doesn't want to make a Windows Phone version themselves, maybe somebody else can step up and build one using the OnStar API.

Calling All Developers: OnStar Looking for Next Big App
http://media.gm.com/content/media/us...108_onstar_api