Re:Apple's risky bet on CarPlay
by throwaway11460 on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @03:25PM
(#40136111)
Every traditional European car manufacturer sells services directly to customers. Not sure about the US/Japanese/Korean, though.
Re:Apple's risky bet on CarPlay
by geoelectric on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @07:37PM
(#40138651)
Historically, Hyundai/Genesis charged $300/yr for BlueLink connected care. Think my 2023 Ioniq 5 is one of the last (EV) models with that yearly charge, and that year's Ioniq 6 and subsequent models get it free.
Unfortunately, I don't think they're planning on offering it free to my model or earlier, and I don't know if the same deal exists for ICE cars.
IMO it's more about control over the user experience. You don't want your customers' UX to be dependent on the whims of Apple or Google, because now you're implicitly building a long-term dependency with a third party that may not be acting in your interests in the future. You're moving closer toward a future where the vehicle becomes commoditized, and now you have more trouble differentiating from competitors. And keep in mind: it's only very recently that the "Apple car" project was cancelled.
That said, traditional automakers are also famous (or infamous?) for sourcing tons of components (including infotainment systems) from the same parts manufacturers. But I guess at least that retains the ability to pivot and use it as a point of differentiation in the future.