We’ve seen a lot of news about Apple and cars lately. BMW was one of the first but now we’re seeing iPod integration in Chrysler, WV, Mitsubishi and other car brands. The latest report came from Autoblog yesterday, though that was about design elements rather than iPod integrations. Ian Callum at Jaguar said they’ve been “working with Apple on control interfaces”, keeping buttons to a minimum and creating other Apple-style details.

More interesting is what we’re hearing about Apple and VW. Supposedly, they are discussing the idea of creating a car together and, of course, people are spitting out the word iCar whenever they speak about it. Personally, I think calling ‘iCar’ is rather exaggerating. I don’t know what they’re up to but my guess would be a VW car partly designed by Apple, with some great iPod and iPhone integeration. And why not a computer system running Mac OS X with GPS and other goodies?

Rumors are also saying Apple is developing a navigation system for Mercedes and the same goes there, why not Mac OS X? The iPhone has it and the iPods will (probably) have it; it’s the natural choice for future Apple products. And if I recall correctly, I think Steve Jobs once said that if you’ve got great software, you should build the hardware around it. Seems like that’s what they’re doing anyway.

And I think it’s great. From their perspective they’re creating an even stronger brand and gaining marketshare by providing us solutions for integration. People will buy iPods because they know they can use it their new BMW without hassle. And from our perspective, they’re making life easier by creating integration in more and more places. All in all, this is a great and natural move to make by Apple. Except for the competition, of course.

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