Prince McLeanAccording to a report by the Wall Street Journal, a fleet of iPads loaded with the company's MB Advantage app will enable dealers to pull up the latest discounts or rebates and complete a credit application for potential customers on the spot, rather than requiring sales people to lead the customer to a desk with a PC.
Andreas Hinrichs, vice president of marketing, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview, "We wanted to bring the mobile revolution into the dealership. The iPad is consumer centric but there is a business side to it as well."
Lease returns via iPad
The company's iPad app also allows dealers to review the condition of vehicles returned at the end of their lease while the driver is present.
Bernie Moreno, the owner of a Mercedes-Benz dealership in North Olmsted, Ohio, told the Wall Street Journal that formerly, "when someone came in we would go out with a pad and a pencil and scribble down all the problems, like a scratch here or a dent there and then go back to the desk and enter everything in the computer."
Moreno said he started using his own iPad on a limited basis to handle leased vehicles, and is now among the dealers in the company's official iPad pilot program. When the customer arrives, Moreno carries his iPad with him outside to do returns on the spot.
"Now I can do it all right in front of the customer and it just gives us more of a sense of credibility," Moreno said. The report indicated the company's pilot program may eventually result in Mercedes-Benz Financial distributing iPads to all of its 350 US dealers.
Andrew O'Hara
Malcolm Owen
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Christine McKee
59 Comments
An iPad gives you credibility!
This is just the beginning of the end of the laptop computer. Due to the touch screen interface the iPads will proliferate in the business world. When someone can do their job on the fly standing up and interacting with customers they will no longer need to have separate laptop computers.
It's only been a month and there is dedicated software for many business available. You can bet there are many other proprietary programs being written for iPads that won't be in the App store.
I wonder why they are not using the hp slate or the ms courrier?
But seriously, there are so many applications for the ipad in everyday life, the fact that with an easy to write app the screen adapts to any on screen interface you might want, your own buttons, forms, etc. etc. and the form factor make it ideal.
Next steps should be even better security and ecryption (iphone os will cater to an extent to these) and the ability to transfer any info from within an app to another ipad with the same app on the fly in an ad hoc bluetooth or wifi network established on the spot. So I pull out my ipad and someone can pass me a file as seamlessly as they would any physical item.
I visualise this as one button connect to ipad in proximity for the server, an accept button for the receiver, and a swipe gesture to move the file.
I wonder if the "streak" aka "ipad competitor" will be able to compete here LOL!!!!!
Will any WIndows or Android-based wanna-be tablets be used by Mercedes? Of course not. There will iPad, and there will be the tablets. Nothing more.Just like we currently have the iPhone, and the not-so-smartphones.
iPad killers? No chance. There is no serious challengers. Google wants to be everything to everyone, just like Microsoft. We will see who remains in the game 3yrs from now.
Jus a bunch of Wanna-Bes!!!