As GM engages in an attempt to radically transform itself for the future, there are some within the company who see iPhone apps as having an opportunity to help the company sell cars and reach out to young drivers. Reporting for InformationWeek, Mary Weier interviewed GM CIO Terry Kline for a story about how GM's IT initiatives play a part in the company's makeover.
In the story, Ms. Weier wrote that she repeatedly heard at the company that, "GM sees huge potential in better leveraging the power of mobile phones. That includes new iPhone apps for selling cars and engaging young car drivers."
GM already offers GM Mobile, an app aimed at journalists (and consumers, one might think) wanting to keep abreast of GM news. At the same time, there is an independent app called GM Dealers whose developers boast is, "More popular than GM's official app since Day 1."
In a measure of how resistant to change GM's culture has been in the past, the company is also just now beginning to see smartphones in the hands of its employees as being part of the company's efforts to speed up its rate of innovation.