The IT Nerd

From the “they really didn’t think this through” department comes news via The Verge that BMW in the US will charge $80 a year to subscribe to Apple CarPlay. They argue that this is cheaper than their price to add it on to your BMW which is a one time fee of $300 to get Apple CarPlay forever  because:

1. The first year will be free. Thus you’re only paying $160 rather than $300 if you’re leasing for 3 years.
2. It will make it “easier” if you flip between Android and iOS devices because you’re not paying for something that you’re not using. That’s an interesting argument as no BMW I am aware of ships with Android Auto. But BMW’s own services will apparently play nice with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Eventually.

This is a really dumb idea and its clearly a cash grab aimed at members of “Team iPhone.” There are cars out there that come out of the gate with Android Auto, or Apple CarPlay, or both, and they don’t nickle and dime you to death for it. I think for that reason alone, the predictable blowback from iPhone users will make BMW rethink this. Also, you have to wonder if they let Apple know about this as I am pretty sure that the folks at Apple Park will be dialing up the folks in Bavaria if they’re not happy about this.

This entry was posted on January 17, 2018 at 9:49 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple, BMW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.