Thanks for the info on the bluetooth reader. I have ordered it from ebay and will see how it works with torque on my iphone.
I would also be interested in getting more info on swissfrank and turbobimmer's approach (cable and the computer program.) I just took a quick look at link provided for the s/w download on bimmerforums and it is not clear whether it is an installation or a virtual machine setup or ... I will need to look into it further later perhaps;
It seems like some ebay sellers are also providing the software that goes with the inpa cable, anyone had any experience with these?
BMW USB OBD Diagnostic cable INPA Ediabas DIS SSS GT1 - eBay (item 120698348065 end time Apr-14-11 05:57:52 PDT)
Given I have the X5 and the wife's 07 328i, I think the cable/software approach would be a better choice for me in future, but at this time, the bluetooth approach should work well for these cars and friends' cars, etc.