ZipCar announced that it was releasing an iPhone App back in July and it’s finally available.

Google
Experiment rapidly, embrace failure.
Apple
Every aspect of your brand should be as good as the product.
Zipcar
Stop selling products, start selling services.
GOOD Magazine
Set the agenda and let your customers spread the conversation.
Amazon
Identify parts of our business that could be offered as additional services.
Facebook
Create the playground and let your customers define your offering.
Virgin
Think big , think small. Amaze customers with your audacity, please them with your attention to detail and customer service.
Twitter
Stay flexible, allow your audience to dictate how your services or products are used.
IKEA
Take a wider view of the shopping experience, making each step along the path to purchase simpler and, more [...]

By being intimately in-tune with societal change, the micro-rental company has broken down an established market, recreating it in a way that wins over customers with surprise and happiness.
Zipcar continues to encourage a societal shift from product ownership to service rental. Customer retention is accomplished through innovation, including mobile phone applications and the development of a fleet of electric vehicles.
It’s less about evolving the rental car market and more about changing consumer’s perception of car ownership and use.
Lesson for Business:
Stop selling products, start selling services.

“Zipcar takes care of everything. There is a sense of ease when dealing with the brand. [...]

A PSFK reader noticed an unusual Zipcar promotion that was underway in New York City this morning. A large radar detector with a speed display was setup on the sidewalk tracking pedestrians’ speed. Next to a large sign that said “You’d Get There Faster In A Zipcar.” Zipcar representatives were also handing out very convincing mock-parking tickets which contained a special discount promotional code.
[Thanks to Aaron Supine for the spot!]
Related Posts on PSFK:

Zipcar Founder on the Benefits of Sharing
Zipcar’s Unorthodox Street Scene Advertising
FastFleet: Zipcar for the Government

Robin Chase , founder of Zipcar and the community carpooling website GoLoco, spoke to GOOD Magazine recently about several ideas that have been really getting us excited recently: the “product as service” model, opensource innovation and multipurpose design. In discussing her thoughts on the power of sharing, Chase refers to the idea of  ”excess capacity,” an object’s potential when not in use. As is the case with most of the physical items that we own, this additional capacity goes untapped, while we continue to assume all of the associated costs. 
With both our economy and environment suffering the effects of dwindling [...]

The limited battery range and lack of known charging stations, which have hindered electric vehicles’ popularity among average folks, turn out to be a match made in heaven for Zipcar. With a vast majority, 95 percent, of its customers using the service for trips lasting less than four hours and not more than 25 miles, electric cars are ideally suited for the Zipcar sharing platform. Including Citroen c1 and plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius the Electric Vehicle Pod aims to extend the platform for evaluation of new alternative vehicle technologies.
The world’s largest car sharing service launched another innovative project earlier this [...]

Zipcar has taken to a using a bit of street theatre for an unusual advertising stunt in Washington DC. The car sharing service recently set up scenes in the middle of two busy sidewalk locations to promote their services. Penn Quarter Living has more.
[Tip via Paul Barzler]

Today Zipcar unveiled their latest venture: FastFleet, a new service that employs Zipcar’s carsharing system for public sector vehicle fleets. Instead of letting their cars sit idle, public agencies can use FastFleet’s network and system for car pick up and drop off, so a smaller number of vehicles can be used as and when needed, across employees. Unlike Zipcar, FastFleet doesn’t provide any cars – just the infrastructure (and accompanying technology) for carsharing across the network. Washington DC was the first city to try out the system, and in its four month pilot, has saved a reported $300,000 through smarter [...]

Author Jeff Jarvis thinks there are lessons Detroit could learn from Google’s success becoming an internet giant. BusinessWeek recently spoke to Jeff who’s new book, ‘What Would Google Do?’ offers some suggestions.
One thing that Google has gotten really good at is opening up its development process to users/consumers. The company uses beta releases as a means to both test new products and in a sense allow consumers to finish them. The feedback Google receives from users can be directly applied to a specific product to make it better. Jeff sees the classic method of how car companies hide their design [...]