Mercedes Launches Mobile App

Add Mercedes-Benz to the growing number of companies using mobile devices to integrate their products into daily life. The automaker has launched mbrace, a new service for its owners that will allow a car to be locked, unlocked and located — whether stolen or lost in a parking lot. It also has collision notification and roadside assistance notification.

You can use the service via an iPhone or BlackBerry, and there is a full brochure detailing everything offered here.

The cool tech is not free, of course. New buyers get six months of the mbrace package free, and then it costs $280 a year. There is also an mbrace Plus package, which you can get for free for three months and then it’s $520 a year. It adds weather, traffic and route assistance for navigation.

Comments

Sounds virtually identical to OnStar (except that it's done as a mobile app) and that Mercedes is charging *a lot* more for it ($280/$520 per year versus the $199/$299 pricing for OnStar). I guess everything is more expensive when it's offered by Mercedes.