Prius iPhone app is....

Here's an idea for something useful for current owners:

People would be able to enter their MPG and associated data, like MPH, trip mileage, driving conditions, etc... Then, that information would be kept by a Toyota server, which could also be accessed by Prius owners looking for the statistics recorded by other several hundreds of owners. The application could build some cool facts like a rank of MPG categorized under specified number of trip mileage for instance. Toyota could also use application to keep owners informed about updates for the new Prius, such as the 10K oil change dilemma or accessories becoming available. Maybe, it could even include a link to Prius chat in a mobile friendly format, so we could communicate with each other. The use would be limited to Prius owners and an easy way to ensure that is to include the VIN a requirement for registration.

 

How is it insulting for Toyota to produce an ad for the Prius that people can install to their iPhones?

Yes, they made an app that you have no use for. I'll guarantee that there are thousands of apps out for the iPhone that you also have no use for. Have all of those people insulted you too?

 

An app aimed at owners would be great. :thumb:

Though as someone who has been shopping for and is now awaiting delivery on a 2010 Prius (upgrading from an '06) the marketing app is nice too.

 

Don't underestimate the power of open hostility. Open hostility has advanced mankind through the ages. Plus quit kissing up to the Prius Team, there are no "death threats" in this thread, just honesty. A lot of people think it's just a big ad, and it sucks and they don't like it.....that's not being hostile, it's being honest.

The first step in implementing aspects of constructive criticism is defining that there is something worthy of criticism....I think we've done this.

I think it IS constructive to let Toyota know that what they have presented is not what people want, do we need to dance around it?

I'm sure it's not the reaction Prius Team or Toyota or anyone involved wanted....but it's an honest reaction, not necessarily a hostile reaction.

 

Prius owners who are also iPhone users aren't exactly the fart app buying crowd. OK, fine, if they want to produce an useless app that's virtually no different from the iPhone-optimized mobile web clip for purely marketing purposes. We as Prius owners/iPhone users had been looking forward to it as an app we could actually make use of to complement our Prius experience, but I guess we were expecting too much.

I recently went to Chipotle. There they advertised an iPhone app that lets you pre-order, pay with credit card and pick it up at the nearest restaurant. As it stands, the Prius app is like the Chipotle app sans the pre-ordering capability.

 

Ok. Bummed. I didn't expect this when I found the link a while back. Maybe they'll see the response to the app and make a new one. If they already have a development team who can make apps, who knows?

 

...Worthless for Prii owners.

Wow, as a developer, this makes me want to code an iPhone/iTouch app for the Prius.
After all I just have to code it in Managed C, and I do C++/C#.

Then I'd have to sell it. Would you guys fork over 20$ for such an app?

Out of 2M Prii drivers worldwide, how many use latin-based languages (English,French,Spanish, etc) ?

IOW, if I can sell quickly 1,000 units of 20$, then 20k$ is just about right for me to invest my time in this.

---OR---- Toyota could do it, and give it away...

I estimate that Toyota easily invested upwards of 20k US$ for this publicity stunt.

 

I think this program would make a good iphone app.

Prius Palm Mileage Simulator

This was originally made for the Palm and then released for the PC. Its no longer being sold for some reason. What it does is allows you to input your speed, wind direction, type of fuel, road condition plus more and it give you a really accurate MPG estimate.

I think a Prius driving simulator would also make for a good app. Along with a way to track your MPG.

I dont own an iphone but if there was an app that did all this then I just might have to get one.

 

I viewed your 12:49 posting as an appology for your part in presenting this app to the PC crowd. The hostilities should have stopped right then. It ticks me the way the tone of the whole thread has taken. Reminds me of the first series of downs at the WVU game this week where the home crowd booed their own players for a lackluster start. WVU went on to have a good game and win. If someone feels the need to be honest and the sentence includes the word "sucks" then perhaps it would be best to be quiet. My mom taught me if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. That's a long way from the viewpoint of "open hostility" being constructive.

Just doesn't make sence to bite the hand that feeds you (information).

 

There is a difference between something being useless and it being something you aren't interested in.

And I wouldn't say you were expecting too much, but that you were expecting something other than what they were building. As Doug noted he made a mistake when he mentioned it here, since it isn't something that is useful for owners. It is a marketing tool to allow them to get information about the Prius out to people that are interested in it.

I agree that it would be great if they produced an app that enhanced the experience for a Prius owner. This just wasn't that app, nor was it intended to be.

As to your metaphor of the Chipotle app, I'd find an app that let me look at all of their menu options and build a sample order to be a useful app in and of itself. Even without the ability to send an order to the store of my choice and pay for it with the app. Different usefulness, but useful nonetheless.

 

Ok, I was one of the "underwhelmed" who spoke out negatively about the app at first. I want to put this in context and maybe the Prius Team will see it in a different light.

I do not yet own a Prius. It's on order and I expect it any day now. Can't wait. I'm so excited about it that I feel like the kid on "Christmas Story" movie who sends away from his secret decoder ring, hoping to become part of a society set out to protect and help others...and get sucked into the adventure of it all. When he finally receives his decoder ring in the mail after, I'm sure, an prolonged wait, he decodes his first message only to find out that it says something like "Drink your ovaltine"...and that's a bit how it felt when I saw what the app did.

Now, I used to love Ovaltine as a kid...it's a good product..I think. So, please don't see our criticism as a bad thing, behind it is a TON of well-wishes and support for the Prius product and what you all do. If we did NOT say a thing about it or were not the slightest bit disappointed, that would say more about our lack of care for the product. If there's one thing we seem to not be, it's apathetic.

And, as a buyer who's waiting for his dealer to call and say "it's FINALLY come in from the port"...I did enjoy the interior 360 view- only wish I could have zoomed in evern further to read instrumentation and had some real interaction with the instruments.

So, as I see it we now get to extend that excitement in waiting for the updates to come- don't let us deter you from making improvements!

 

Remember too that the commercials were not well recieved by this group, when in fact they too were not targeted at PC'ers. PC'ers already had a Prius or were at least sold on the idea of owning one.

 

I take it you're not an iPhone user?

One would have to be pretty lame to take the time to download this app and never look at it again (and eat up space on the iPhone) when you could simply go to the website directly on the iPhone much quicker to view the menu.

 

OK, too late to appologize. You do know there have been people on PC whose Prii have disappeared in transit or fallen off trucks and arrived severely damaged don't you? Not that the Prius Team would take names and kick butt, but...

You're safe, you at least were not hostile in your comments. You're just on probation. Just don't complain about the NAV or Fog Lights after your car comes in.

 

You would be wrong. Not only do I have an iPhone, I have the Chipotle app you mention installed. It fires up a lot quicker than their web page loads, and the menu on their web page doesn't have prices. I could use the online ordering they have on their web page, but honestly I don't know if it even works on the iPhone's browser.

I'm not concerned with eating up space on my iPhone. I've got more than 15 gigs of free space on it currently. And besides that as I said having their menu with pricing for the local stores on my iPhone would be useful to me even without the ability to send an order to them using it. Which is to say I wouldn't just load it and then never look at it again.

It is more useful with the ability to order/pay for the food via the app. But that doesn't mean that it is useless without it. Again, just because you personally wouldn't use something doesn't mean that it is useless.

 

HAHAHA! Oh now, I can't believe that the Prius Team could be anything other than wonderful people who wish nothing but kindness and happiness for all of us, generous to a fault and probably all very handsome and/or pretty.

 

That's more like it. I want to be on the Priority List next time so me? I'm sucking up

 

Just out of curiosity, who is the intended audience for the iPhone app?

When I was interested in buying a Prius, I searched the web for reviews, I went and test drove the car, and I read a lot of posts here on PC. I never went to iTunes and searched for a program to show me the same advertisements I'd seen on TV and on Toyota's website.

Not sure why you are taking this personally. I don't think anyone intended to hurt your feelings. We are just saying the app is useless and doesn't really serve a purpose for anyone. Is there anyway you can relay any of the feedback here to the Toyota iPhone development team? They could make something that would be really great.