ok, there have been so many questions on almost every forum out there.. so I'm going to repeat some of the posts here, and then continue the discussion here too and have all the other forums refer to this thread...
ok.. so many questions.. let me address some of them...
The GS-911 has always been a Windows PC diagnostic tool for BMW motorcycles. Then if you had a Bluetooth version, you could run the mobile app on Windows 5&6 devices, on Blackberries on Android devices and on some older (think nokia symbian OS) devices that supported java midlet apps.
The mobile apps have always been there for Emergency functionality only.. i.e. you're stuck by the roadside and want to find out what's going on.. or help someone else.. however for this we have to write apps for every darn OS out there and then Symbian gets discontinued and Blackberry changes from the old stuff to incompatible version 10 OS, Windows releases phone 7 OS that does not allow apps the functionality that we need to use GS-911.. and not to mention iOS that did not allow standard bluetooth comms without an Apple security chip in the client device.. Oh and next year 2 more mobile OS's are released...
Then BMW released the K001 chassis. These are the K48 (K1600GT and K1600GTL), the K50 (R1200GS LC), K51 (R1200GSA LC), the K52 (R1200RT LC), the K47 (S1000R). These all changed the pinouts, protocol and physical layer which is why the current (yellow) GS-911usb and GS-911blu cannot and will not ever work on these...
The new GS-911 is thus meant for the K001 chassis, or should I say, the only one that will work on the K001 chassis, but it is also backward compatible to each and every 10pin BMW bike that is supported in the yellow GS-911 devices!
further more, the GS-911wifi, obviously as wifi - we have 2 modes
- a Device-to-Device mode (D2D) where the GS-911 itself is an Access Point.. i.e. on your phone or tablet, when you scan for wireless networks you will see one that says "GS-911_xxxx" where XXXX are the last 4 digits of your serial number. Simply connect to this network... no internet required... and you could be in the middle of the Sahara desert and you would have what we refer to as Emergency functionality (which is what the mobile apps on its predecessors have)
- Then there is the 2nd mode, Infrastructure mode, where your GS-911wifi will connect to a Wireless network (access point), be it your home network or your workshop network etc. The GS-911wifi saves 10 network profiles and if more than one network in your profiles is available at any one point it will default to the one that was most recently connected to.
The wifi network profiles can be configured through the device itself, or through a MAC and Windows PC utility respectively. These utilities handle software updates and device registration as well.
The GS-911wifi is more than just a wifi connection. It actually has an Embedded server, which means, once your GS-911 and mobile device are on the same network, it can be browsed with any device that has a browser, hence we have coined the term, "
[COLOR="Red"]Browse your Bike[/COLOR][/B]". As most people might have difficulty finding their device's IP address, we have released 2 apps for iOS and Android respectively. These "Launcher" apps will find any GS-911wifi devices on your network and list them. You simply click on one of the GS-911wifi devices and it will launch into an in-app Browser or your default device Browser (can be setup by the user)
The product will launch at the MOA and will be available soon there-after. I have a sneaky suspicion that all the stock will be sold out on the MOA.
As mentioned above, the GS-911 has always been a PC based diagnostic tool. i.e. if you want all the service functionality - that comes in the GS-911 PC app. It is the same for the GS-911wifi. However the GS-911wifi has a slightly different future path. We currently support the K1600 models and the R1200 Wetheads, and will soon add the S1000R too. Then for the remainder of the year, we will be adding more and more service functionality for these models... Then the game changes... the GS-911wifi is Cloud-ready. We will start to duplicate the Service functionality on the cloud.. thus if your GS-911wifi and your browsing device (irrespective of OS platform) are connected to our cloud server, you will be able to do Service functionality on what-ever mobile device you are browsing on!
This holds several advantages - updates, bug-fixes and enhancements are easier and immediate as we control them on the server. The service functionality will still be in the PC app as this will always be the fall-back safety net... we know the internet has issues and is not 100% reliable and in a shop scenario especially, you cannot tell your customer you will finish his bike tomorrow or the day after, once the internet is up and running at an acceptable level ;-)
In terms of roll-out, we are following a staged process. As of the MOA at the end of July, these will be available in the USA, through our US distributor. This is a new and complex product and are expecting an unforeseen kink here, is not just normal, but expected... networking and especially wifi is full of deep dark secrets.. (and a lot of chipsets that are almost compliant to the wifi specs) ;-)
This staged roll-out will allow us the best possible service and support delivery to our largest English market. It will also allow us the extra time to work through the translations and certifications for the non-USA markets.
The European and rest of the world roll-out s scheduled for 1 October 2014.
Pricing is set at :
GS-911wifi Enthusiast : $399
GS-911wifi Professional : $749
We're pretty much all somewhere in mid-air traveling to the MOA. The software, and utilities and links to the iOS and Launcher apps are all on our downloads page, together with the Flyer and Quickstart guide.
The rest of the site will be updated once we're back from the US.
Hope this answers the bulk of the questions. Once I'm back in ZA we'll be doing a couple of detailed videos for our youtube channel and that should explain everything very clearly! (that is a little further back the priority list, as functionality and stability are the top priority, and at present we already have more pre-orders in the US than we have stock!
That said, this has been an enormous project, but we are very pleased with the results... and in the same breath.. there is still a heap of work to be done... As our trusted clients have grown to know us, they will vouch for the fact that since the initial release in 2007, we have just continued to release new functionality year after year - And our mission has always been to be the best diagnostic tool for BMW motorcycles out there... and at the lowest cost to our valued biking community!
Feel free to ask questions, but be warned, I can't promise I will get around to them any time soon.. While in the US, its MOA and work and then we still need to manage everything else back home too... some some days may pass without me even looking at forums...
best
Stephan
