German audio equipment maker Blaupunkt and Australia's miRoamer have teamed up to produce the first Internet car radio, presented at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show, which gives drivers access to tens of thousands of Web radio stations.

Blaupunkt's miRoamer-powered TravelPilot New Jersey 600i Internet car stereo is the first purpose-built Internet car radio, according to George Parthimos, chief executive of miRoamer, where the Internet radio capabilities are an ingredient part of the actual unit itself.

 

The sleek, glossy black device is a medium-to-high-end radio, which comes with pretty much anything you would expect to find in such a gadget, AM/FM, CD, MP3 and, of course, Internet radio.

 

A 3G mobile phone with a data plan is needed to connect the radio to the Internet, and the company estimates the average user would consume around two gigabytes of data a month. "It uses Bluetooth connectivity to connect to a cellphone and then the cellphone connects to a cellular network," George Parthimos said.

 

However, the mobile phone is used only to establish the connection to the Internet, as the actual radio itself is where all the users' settings are and experience happens. Practically, the moment you get into your car, your cell phone automatically syncs to the radio itself.

 

It all sounds pretty cool, but, unfortunately, the device presented at CES this year was only a prototype. Blaupunkt expects to launch the radio in the second half of 2009, initially only in the United States and Europe and then the rest of the world.

 

"As for in-car installs, we have been inundated with a lot of companies who are interested in this," Parthimos revealed, declining to name the interested automobile manufacturers. "I would imagine that that would probably happen in 2010."

 

The radio will apparently retail for approximately 400 US dollars.

 

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