131–140 of 215 posts
You don’t want to live in the dystopian future where you don’t own anything and every little thing is a recurring monthly subscription.
Boycott every company that does it or else you’ll get the shitty future they’re selling.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is less to do with blackmail than to do with optimising manufacturing. It is cheaper for manufacurers to produce all the cars with the same heated seats, but not allow you to use them if you don't pay the recurring charge (as long as enough % of customers opt-in), than to manufacture two versions of the car, one with the seats and one without, just so that you can feel like you aren't being blackmailed. You shou…
It's interesting how plausible conclusions are always so boring. No wonder consensus usually converges to cynical/doomsday conclusions. It's where the emotions are.
No, this conclusion is not plausible at all. It doesn't explain why the payment should be recurring rather than paid only once (even if it's delayed post-manufacture).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whoops, you're right, I meant markup instead of margin. Fixed now. (For the curious, margin is (revenue-cost)/revenue, and markup is (revenue-cost)/cost.)
Why is the cost zero? They have to cover the cost of making the car.
As long as competition remains real I think there will always be a manufacturer or model that gives you close to what you want. Mazda for example has stuck with physical controls and hasn't been making any noises about pushing a bunch of things behind a subscription. There is a subscription for remote start and some useless notifications, but at the moment it's nothing to worry about. I don't think they can afford to…
I hope you're right, but the TV market gives me pause. There's plenty of competition, but all the major brands include advertising and spyware in their TVs.
I can somewhat understand the logic of charging me a recurring fee for a service that costs the provider a recurring cost, gets regular improvements, and where data is maintained. TV/sat radio? Ok (not that I would buy that). Remote tracking / start? Why not. Internet access in the car? Sure. Satellite maps with updates? Maybe. I would hope that given how much you charge me for the product, these come included, but M…
(Thought experiment, don’t downvote me just because)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is less to do with blackmail than to do with optimising manufacturing. It is cheaper for manufacurers to produce all the cars with the same heated seats, but not allow you to use them if you don't pay the recurring charge (as long as enough % of customers opt-in), than to manufacture two versions of the car, one with the seats and one without, just so that you can feel like you aren't being blackmailed. You shou…
> This is less to do with blackmail than to do with optimising manufacturing. It is cheaper for manufacurers to produce all the cars with the same heated seats, but not allow you to use them if you don't pay the recurring charge (as long as enough % of customers opt-in), than to manufacture two versions of the car, one with the seats and one without, just so that you can feel like you aren't being blackmailed. But th…
There is - it means someone who bought the car not intending to use the feature, or who bought the car second-hand, can enable it later.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is the cost zero? They have to cover the cost of making the car.
The cost to them of the owner of the car using the heated seats is zero. The cost of making the car doesn't get used here because that would be double-counting it, since it was already counted in how profitable the sale of the car was.
> BMW currently requires car owners in some countries to pay roughly $12 per month to access a safety feature called “High Beam Assistant,” which automatically turns off a car’s high beam lights when it senses another car to avoid blinding other drivers at night. > “Safety should come standard,” Wallace said of adaptive headlights. “Some automakers might think that those are simply a convenience feature, but there’s…
Incidentally - the 2022 Versa so far seems to be a great car. Lots of software features that might be considered "luxury" come as standard.