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A comment on GM makes $1,500 subscription mandatory on GMC, Buick, Cadillac Models. Parent comment

Re:GM makes $1,500 subscription mandatory on GMC, Buick, Cad... by smnrchrds on Thursday August 11, 2022 @09:54AM (#32425593)
How much longer until buying a new non-subscription car becomes like buying a new non-smart TV?
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Re:GM makes $1,500 subscription mandatory on GMC, Buick, Cad... by workshirt on Thursday August 11, 2022 @11:16AM (#32427024)
There is some modularity there at least, I just got a fire tv for pretty cheap, but I never plan on letting it connect to the internet, instead I have a separate box which connects to my streaming apps. I feel like the situation with cara is worse.
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Re:GM makes $1,500 subscription mandatory on GMC, Buick, Cad... by lotsofpulp on Thursday August 11, 2022 @10:07AM (#32425805)
On star and subscription services has been available for my whole life (35 years).

But there have always been alternatives without subscription services available. What would cause a change for alternatives to stop being available?

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Re:GM makes $1,500 subscription mandatory on GMC, Buick, Cad... by Nextgrid on Thursday August 11, 2022 @10:57AM (#32426723)
Even if there was no benefit from the data collected by the system to the manufacturer, they might still make it a default just because there are supply chain advantages to having a single unique design (with all the hardware & software for the "connected" bit) than maintaining a separate, non-connected SKU.

But of course manufacturers also benefit from the data collection and functionality the "connected" bit offers such as DRM, etc, so why wouldn't they mandate it?

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