@OP
The best thing about your solution is being able to place the phone without having to remove the cover. That annoyance alone made me stop using my 3G cradle. BMW is eons behind Toyota/Acura and others in integrating all this stuff so it can work smoothly. It's like when we had to write code to make the printer work with our computer
just absurd.
@BMW
This is how all of this should work: Buy iPhone - any kind - plug into receptacle and iPhone screen and all functions are instantly available via iDrive. While you are at it, fix the seriously flawed Nav system you now have