Volkswagen Launches iPhone Optimized Website Featuring Access to Emergency Roadside Assistance
By James Falconer on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 12:11 AM PST In Apple, Mobile Web, iPhone, iPhone OS
Fans of ‘Das Auto’ will be very pleased to know that VW has launched a mobile site optimized for viewing on the iPhone. You can check it out from your desktop at http://www.vw.com/mobile/iphone. For best results on your desktop, you may want to shrink your browser window to roughly the size of an iPhone display to get the true effect. On the iPhone the site looks great in both portrait and landscape orientations.
The site allows you to browse all current cars, including galleries and feature lists for each. You can also use it to find a dealer by entering a ZIP code (sorry Canada and rest of the world!).
While the above features are great, perhaps the most useful feature of the mobile site is the Emergency Roadside Assistance feature. Tap on the ‘Assistance’ option from the homepage, and you’ll notice a button that lets you connect with emergency assistance. Handy for those times when you need some help with a flat, or need some gas… or for any other sort of emergency situation. Tip of the cap to VW on this one for sure.
On your iPhone you can simply hit up www.vw.com and you will be redirected to the mobile URL 
Thanks Steve!
This also works on the T-Mobile G1. VW’s site will autodetect the G1 browser and redirect you to the mobile version as well and it’s perfectly formatted.
Yeah they’ve had this site up for a while now – at least since Oct 08. I think it’s a great example of how to choose relevant mobile website content. Especially for an all-Flash website which the mobile phones cannot see at all. Choosing the right content and not trying to replicate your regular site for mobile is a challenge in which developers/designers are just beginning to understand.
Good story James and great choices VW !!