2011 Hyundai Equus Ditches Owner's Manual For "Multimedia Tablet"

How cool is this: The upcoming in 2011 Hyundai Equus will do away with the traditional paper owner's manual, and they'll give you a "multimedia tablet" instead. This falls into the totally bitchin' category of ancillary car stuff, but it also points out how Korean companies can make these leapfrog moves over their competitors.

No, there's no word yet on which company will get the nod to supply the owner's "manual" for the 2011 Hyundai Equus, looking at the pictures of the Hyundai Equus' presentation pretty clearly shows a Apple iPad. Oh really? There hasn't been any official announcement form Apple on this. So what gives?

At today's New York Auto Show Hyundai USA president John Krafcik didn't unambiguously say that the device in question will be an Apple iPad the automaker's announcement was that it would supply each new Equus owner with a "multimedia tablet" to replace the owner's manual.

And the pictures that Krafcik used show the upcoming Apple wundergadget. Now, that's no assurance that the Hyundai tablet will in fact be an Apple product by the time the Equus hits dealers this fall, but we can hope. And it would be a brilliant marketing move by both parties, if you ask me.

The table used in the Equus will not only replace the conventional owner's manual, but to manage customer and dealer interactions for things like scheduling service appointments and the like. Smart, huh? Also, the traditional owner's manual has grown into a costly tome that's grown more and more problematical to pass through what with all the exponential increase in features, particularly in luxury vehicles.

Hitting retailers and those lucky pre-orderers' mailboxes this coming Saturday, the iPad is the main player in the yet-to-be-fully-explored tablet arena. There are a bunch of other manufacturers building these new-pad-esque deals for consumers. Dell, JooJoo and a bunch more are on the way, but Apple is easily the standout.

So which tablet will be in the glove compartment of the 2011 Hyundai Equus?

Source: AutoBlog http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/01/2011-hyundai-equus-replaces-owners-manual-with-multimedia-tabl/