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Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

theturnsignalblog.com

181–190 of 537 posts

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#181
post #34

There's an interesting gap when discussing carplay/aa. Cars from the 90s up until about 2013 can be easily fitted with a $500 head unit upgrade, and support carplay quite well. With the right tools, it can be done in about two hours right in your driveway. Cars from 2018 and up pretty universally support carplay, and it's generally quite well integrated into the car's infotainment system. But, between 2013 and 2017,…

> But, between 2013 and 2017, things were a complete mess. In-car systems were too integrated to be replaceable with a third party 2-DIN unit, but too primitive to run carplay/AA

Mazda sells a retrofit kit for their 2014 (Mazda 3) / 2016 (other models) and newer cars that didn't come with native CP/AA. It's about $200 and DIY if you're the least bit handy:

https://mazdaparts.org/mazda-3-smartphone-mirroring-kit.html

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#182
post #4

CarPlay mostly works, and although it has issues it's definitely user-focused. CarPlay doesn't prevent car makers from tracking vehicle activity. In the end, consumers don't give a shit about the in-vehicle infotainment. It sucks, or it's AA/CarPlay. The first generation of iDrive showed that rich people people will buy cars in spite of the in-car stuff. In fact, most car infotainment sucks, yet people still buy cars…

GM's plan is to sell a subscription service that covers all the things you already pay for on your phone (maps, music streaming, etc). It's why they're killing CarPlay, because they know that even if their service is good, nobody will pay $20/mo for shit they already get for free on their phones. Basically, their goal in life is to be a worthless middleman who takes peoples money while providing no real value to soci…

How is GM a middleman when they are producing the product I am buying which is a car? If GM bundled OnStar with a top tier infotainment / navigation / ChatGpt / I’m hungry where do I eat app, I’ll pay for that as long as it’s reasonable and lets me know I’ll be taken care of if I crash and need assistance.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a ridiculous statement - he was responding to substantive points raised by the article. I’m a huge Apple fan, but let’s be fair here and not flame others.

It's funny that calling someone an Android user is considered a flag-worthy insult.

I don't think it is. I think dismissing a well thought out post by calling it "yapping" was the insult.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#184
post #102

It's pretty funny to me to see an Apple user complaining about lack of interop with other ecosystems. You've chosen your walled garden; now it's time to realize you're stuck in it. The author seems to blame everyone but Apple for this, though. Apparently it's Google's fault that his preferred podcast app isn't available on Android. What about the app developer, who has decided not to support Android? And it's the aut…

Imagine a world where Apple and Google (and others) worked together and made a open standard that is as good as what they both have today. Bluetooth but for cars. Such a missed opportunity.

This would be considered a trust worth busting.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#185
post #102

It's pretty funny to me to see an Apple user complaining about lack of interop with other ecosystems. You've chosen your walled garden; now it's time to realize you're stuck in it. The author seems to blame everyone but Apple for this, though. Apparently it's Google's fault that his preferred podcast app isn't available on Android. What about the app developer, who has decided not to support Android? And it's the aut…

I also think the author misses the mark on this statement > Apple’s long-term goal is likely to find ways to directly monetize CarPlay. It could license CarPlay to carmakers at some point. But with the entire global car market amounting to only around 70 million cars per year and the car industry’s slim profit margins (ranging from 5% to 15%), it must reach a high market share to get significant revenue from it. Howe…

> I don’t think Apple sees this as a promising revenue stream.

Isn't the value of CarPlay/AndroidAuto indirect? As in that the value is coming from the data being generated to enable better mapping? Because the truth is that some of these mapping services' main utilities depend on a large network of users (e.g. information about congestion, road notices, etc[0]). In that way it seems beneficial to get your app onto as many vehicles as possible and even gives motivation for making CarPlay cross-platform (even if the main benefits only go to Apple users).

[0] Also, wtf AndroidAuto. You pull data from Waze users for things like speed traps, road hazzards, etc, but you don't let me contribute when using Auto? Why is there no button (or voice command) "report road hazard"? Hell, this'll even help you classify events for your ML models.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also think the author misses the mark on this statement > Apple’s long-term goal is likely to find ways to directly monetize CarPlay. It could license CarPlay to carmakers at some point. But with the entire global car market amounting to only around 70 million cars per year and the car industry’s slim profit margins (ranging from 5% to 15%), it must reach a high market share to get significant revenue from it. Howe…

I hate to say it but monetize subscriptions, not new car sales. It's got to be worth as much as a seat warmer.

Wait I gotta be missing something. Are seat warmers a subscription now?

Damn, indeed I missed that section

> With their own software platforms, they are desperately trying to find recurring revenue streams, whether it's a subscription for seat heating or driver assistance systems

..........

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#187

It’s amusing when the author says “when the phone crashes.” My 2022 Subaru Outback head unit frequently crashes or is really unresponsive. My iPhone never crashes. Car infotainment systems are garbage. I’d never buy a car without CarPlay. It’s maybe the #1 measure I have for vehicle quality when I rent on vacation.

FWIW Teslas infotainment works better than CarPlay

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#188
You don't have to download a new podcast app because you could just play it through Bluetooth. CarPlay and AA probably wouldn't even exist if it weren't for car vent phone holders and 2.5mm/Bluetooth upending automakers' grip on navigation and entertainment.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#189
post #154

I disagree with this love of hooking my $1000 phone to my $30000 car. Everywhere else in my house, I try to make gadgets independent of one another. I remember when a printer worked only when it was hooked to a PC to be its server. That was bad. It’s much better for my printer to hook to the network directly. Some thermostats require a phone to program them. That’s bad. The thermostat should have full functionality a…

Have you used CarPlay?

Yep. My car has it. Not a fan. I have an old-school phone holder and usually I prefer that.

Re: Apple's risky bet on CarPlay

#190
post #34

There's an interesting gap when discussing carplay/aa. Cars from the 90s up until about 2013 can be easily fitted with a $500 head unit upgrade, and support carplay quite well. With the right tools, it can be done in about two hours right in your driveway. Cars from 2018 and up pretty universally support carplay, and it's generally quite well integrated into the car's infotainment system. But, between 2013 and 2017,…

Another option is to get a device that is essentially a tablet that runs Carplay and connects to the car's audio via Bluetooth.

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Receivers-Display-Stereo-Blu...

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