Winner of the best OBDII device for the Tech CARS Awards Mojio, announced connections are available worldwide through its global carrier agreement with AT&T. Along with Microsoft they are conducting an app contest for Windows Phone apps.
Jay Giraud, CEO, Mojio noted that the AT&T Global Sim is useful for business travelers, with borderless roaming on AT&T’s network. In fact, it can be used in a rental car in another country and used to keep families safely connected.
Mojio is the only open-platform, 3G+GPS cellular device and smartphone app that delivers a near real-time connected driving experience to drivers. Because it is an open platform developers can develop new creative apps for it.
Notifications can let you know if your car being stolen, towed, driven too fast or too far or if you leave your headlights on. It also monitors where the teenager is driving. Mojio also features automated trip reporting, gas station/parking locating,
Mojio sells for $149 USD at Amazon.com with a year of service included and a $4.99 monthly subscription thereafter. This is much less than the newly announced $15 a month Verizon Vehicle service with an OBD device and a Bluetooth speaker for the rearview mirror. OnStar starts $19.99 a month with the ability to buy calling minutes. Automobile Club memberships are around $50 a year. If you could save more than $12.50 per month the first year for Mojio it would pay for itself.
Mojio plugs into the OBD port found in most cars already on the road today. When it first launched it was called “sexy.” The marketing appears to be working because it garnered many “sexy” votes for the Tech CARS Awards.
Mojio helps “drivers stay safely connected with friends, family and appointments by providing the option to share vehicle location and estimated arrival time with selected contacts, without having to text while driving”.
With new apps drivers will be able to “customize” their relationship with their car, just like they have with their smartphones. Future apps include parking payments, automated trip expensing, simplified car rental and home automation.
New apps include Dooing that assigns tasks to the best available employee by proximity/schedule and Carma for helping to make air quality better.
Mojio is announced the Mojio & Microsoft Developer Contest. The contest is officially open and submissions will be accepted until Thursday, February 12, 2015.
Five grand prizes of a $1,000 prepaid VISA card will be awarded for the best Windows Phone apps developed in the following categories:
- Green app – an app focused primarily on reducing drivers’ carbon footprints in some way.
- Fleet app – an app focused primarily on managing a fleet of more than one vehicle more effectively.
- Business app – an app focused primarily on helping a business manage its resources (e.g. people, time, money) more effectively.
- Gamification app – an app focused primarily on gamifying driving in a safe manner (i.e. creating distracted drivers will not pass muster).
- Wildcard app – an app which has a primary function that does not fit in any of the above categories.