The announcement will affect all 2006 BMW models equipped with BMW Assist (Bluetooth technology) from September 2005 production.
Such cars will be available with full address book integration from RIM's BlackBerry 8700 series devices, allowing the convenience of making cellphone calls via on-board controls or totally hands-free voice-activation.
"BMW and BlackBerry are two high performance brands with customer bases that obviously overlap. We are very pleased to see BMW support BlackBerry handsets and further enhance usability through BMW's on-board controls," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion.
The new 8700 series is the first among BlackBerry models to offer address book pairing functionality with BMW vehicles. If you don't happen to have one of the new 8700 models then it is possible to connect through to BMW Assist with address integration being available via a free software upgrade to BlackBerry handheld code v4.1, available early next year. Check with your wireless carrier for availability.
The linkup from BlackBerry device to BMW Assist is reportedly a relatively pain free one-time operation, taking only minutes, depending on the size of an individual address book. The address book is then available through iDrive
or the Multifunction Steering Wheel, with call activation by scrolling through the address book entries, steering wheel buttons and voice command, the ability to pair BlackBerry devices with multiple BMW vehicles, and the ability to pair up to four Blackberry devices with a single BMW vehicle - although this last one is limited to only one device being used at any given time.
The BlackBerry announcement follows another world first that came late in 2002; BMW being the world's first automaker to offer Bluetooth compatibility in the automobile segment.
It should be noted that BMW Assist is now available in every Canadian BMW model, and comes standard with the 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series and X5 4.8is, and optional on 3 Series, Z4, X3, X5 3.0i, X5 4.4i for $1,100.
No doubt the BMW Assist option will become much more popular with this new announcement.
![]() |
All 2006 BMW models equipped with BMW Assist (Bluetooth technology) from September 2005 production will be available with full address book integration from RIM's BlackBerry 8700 series devices. (Photo: BMW Canada and Reasearch In Motion) |
"BMW and BlackBerry are two high performance brands with customer bases that obviously overlap. We are very pleased to see BMW support BlackBerry handsets and further enhance usability through BMW's on-board controls," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion.
The new 8700 series is the first among BlackBerry models to offer address book pairing functionality with BMW vehicles. If you don't happen to have one of the new 8700 models then it is possible to connect through to BMW Assist with address integration being available via a free software upgrade to BlackBerry handheld code v4.1, available early next year. Check with your wireless carrier for availability.
The linkup from BlackBerry device to BMW Assist is reportedly a relatively pain free one-time operation, taking only minutes, depending on the size of an individual address book. The address book is then available through iDrive
![]() |
If you don't happen to have one of the new 8700 models then it is possible to connect through to BMW Assist with address integration being available via a free software upgrade to BlackBerry handheld code v4.1. (Photo: Reasearch In Motion) |
The BlackBerry announcement follows another world first that came late in 2002; BMW being the world's first automaker to offer Bluetooth compatibility in the automobile segment.
It should be noted that BMW Assist is now available in every Canadian BMW model, and comes standard with the 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series and X5 4.8is, and optional on 3 Series, Z4, X3, X5 3.0i, X5 4.4i for $1,100.
No doubt the BMW Assist option will become much more popular with this new announcement.




Article Gallery