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BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

motor1.com

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Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#21

Post by BoorishBears »

_zzaw wrote: post #16
BoorishBears wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*friends, my 435i has something like 30 ECUs But people still do find defeats for most of those. The reality is BMW doesn't care because the average person won't bother with any of that and will just pay.

I'm not sure the average person drives a BMW. I don't know, maybe if you can afford to drive a BMW, you don't mind having to rent something you already bought. I have a feeling that if Honda or Toyota pulled this shit, nobody would buy the models that had it. Renting things like heated seats? It feels bizarre to even have to discuss such a dystopically stupid idea.

Where to begin...

First off, saying "the average person would do X" is a hypothetical. It doesn't mean they're in that situation: "If given choice between modifying car and paying money, will pay money"

Second, the article is about BMW, so even if you missed that it'd still be pretty easy to infer an average person amongst their customers...

Third, what's with the weird dig against people for owning BMWs. Different people can want different things... and there's a reason Toyota's halo sports car is rolling around with a BMW powerplant.

Fourth, Toyota started this is 5 years ago by paywalling remote start not just with the app, but with your normal physical key fob: https://ktvo.com/news/auto-matters/costs-associated-with-ent...

They even doubled down and removed the physical button on newer models!: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/toyota-remote-start-digit...

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#22

Post by ratg13 »

xupybd wrote: post #18
foepys wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes you can do that with a SASS product but no you cannot for a physical product. Why? Not that I am in favor of this but are there really objective arguments to support that? One can argue that the ecological impact is higher due to the need for additional materials but maybe people buy new a car only because they didn't have feature X and installing it afterwards is too expensive.

Because you're getting a good deal out of it. They're managing the hardware it runs on. Keeping the software up to date. The customer gets a good deal. We have office 365. Users self manage. They can download and install on devices as they want. Before office 365 I had to install it for them. It's a big win for our business. We have no dedicated I.T. people. I'm a developer that does a little here and there but we wo…

You make a very good point, but makes me wonder if they were fully responsible for maintaining the seats as part of the contract, would that then make this acceptable?

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#25

Post by brewdad »

_zzaw wrote: post #14
sp527 wrote: post #7

They have an option to buy it outright that appears to be priced at the same level as a typical upgrade. They also have 1 and 3 year subscriptions. This is actually a net win for both BMW and for consumers. You can do things like "try extensively before you buy" or even choose to only subscribe during the winter (which they probably expect a lot of people to do). BMW benefits because they're almost certainly expandin…

Haha nope. If I buy the car, I own everything that is in it. Installing extra parts or features? Sure, I'll pay for that. Hardware that's already in the car, and disabled just so the manufacturer can try to squeeze more money out of me? Never. I'll either enable it myself, or refuse to support companies that do such a thing if I can't. Subscription models like this one need to be punished, hard, and/or simply rendere…

How though? If you buy the car and either don't enable it or bypass it, they still made a sale. Everyone who pays for the feature is pure profit. There's no downside unless potential buyers opt for a Mercedes instead of a BMW. But once they are all doing it, the die is cast.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#26

Post by nprateem »

atwood22 wrote: post #23

Super weird decision from BMW. The brand is all about luxury and performance at all costs. Trying to nickel and dime on seat heaters just seems cheap.

It's the thin end of the wedge. Want to use the stereo, unlock remotely, etc etc?

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#27

Post by xupybd »

ratg13 wrote: post #22
xupybd wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you're getting a good deal out of it. They're managing the hardware it runs on. Keeping the software up to date. The customer gets a good deal. We have office 365. Users self manage. They can download and install on devices as they want. Before office 365 I had to install it for them. It's a big win for our business. We have no dedicated I.T. people. I'm a developer that does a little here and there but we wo…

You make a very good point, but makes me wonder if they were fully responsible for maintaining the seats as part of the contract, would that then make this acceptable?

Yeah I think so.

Mechanical insurance is the equivalent.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#28

Post by sanjayio »

foepys wrote: post #15
xupybd wrote: post #2

I hope people promptly come up with ways to enable these features for free. This is nothing short of criminal. To charge for a feature that is physically in the car. Yes you can do that with a SASS product but no you cannot for a physical product.

> Yes you can do that with a SASS product but no you cannot for a physical product. Why? Not that I am in favor of this but are there really objective arguments to support that? One can argue that the ecological impact is higher due to the need for additional materials but maybe people buy new a car only because they didn't have feature X and installing it afterwards is too expensive.

Because for the heated seats there are no server fees, maintenance costs, firmware updates, patches, future features under development, product teams thinking about lifecycle, the list goes on. The same can’t be said for AI in Teslas or Whoop straps which can justify the cost / subscription.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#29

Post by DoctorOW »

foepys wrote: post #15
xupybd wrote: post #2

I hope people promptly come up with ways to enable these features for free. This is nothing short of criminal. To charge for a feature that is physically in the car. Yes you can do that with a SASS product but no you cannot for a physical product.

> Yes you can do that with a SASS product but no you cannot for a physical product. Why? Not that I am in favor of this but are there really objective arguments to support that? One can argue that the ecological impact is higher due to the need for additional materials but maybe people buy new a car only because they didn't have feature X and installing it afterwards is too expensive.

> Not that I am in favor of this but are there really objective arguments to support that?

This annoys me so much. It's pretty clear "cannot" in this context means in their opinion non-justifiable. There is no such thing as an objective opinion and those who believe in objective opinions generally are just referring to their own thoughts as objective.

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