Aftermarket gadgets will link smartphones, autos

This $349 docking station, which startup Devium plans to introduce next month, routes iPhone apps through a vehicle’s sound system.

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While automakers and suppliers wrestle with how best to marry the automobile to mobile electronic devices, aftermarket companies are swiftly creating ways to use smartphones in autos.

So consumers could still have ready ways to use plenty of smartphone apps, regardless of what automakers do.

For instance, Clarion Corp., a well-known maker of electronic auto gadgets for the aftermarket, says it is working on a product called Next Gate. Consumers can operate iPhones with plenty of apps by watching a 7-inch screen quickly mounted on the instrument panel.

Meanwhile, startup Devium says it will sell a replacement computer unit for a car's center stack that is little more than a docking station for the iPhone.

The docking station, called Dash, enables consumers to use their iPhones and all related applications in their vehicles, and runs the sound through the car's speakers.

You can reach Larry P. Vellequette at lvellequette@crain.com.

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