BMW Plans to Turn CarPlay Into Subscription-Based Service Next Year

[macduke]

This is like charging yearly for heated seats, or a remote starter. What the actual hell, BMW? Someday these old car manufacturers are going to die at the hands of companies like Tesla. Why do they think they can get away with this? I hope Apple brings the hammer down on these sort of practices or other companies will follow suit.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I guess you (as a BMW owner) just really don't get it. .... The point many like myself are making is, WHY?????? Why are you OK with paying for Carplay when no one else charges extra for Carplay?

No one is getting CarPlay for "free." If it's standard equipment it's bundled in the manufacture's wholesale price. You are paying for it one way or another. It's like when Apple includes a dongle in an iPhone. It's being accounted for. It's not free.

But I'm OK with paying for whatever option that might be standard in other cars because I'm not interested in those other cars. BMW's don't drive as magnificently as they did a decade ago, but I still love they way they feel over most other cars. The only other brand I really think about is Audi, but then I have to go to an S5 and that is more than I want to spend. I buy a car first for how it drives. A "free" CarPlay isn't going to get me to buy something I don't love to drive.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Big Money Wasted

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Not to derail, but that is not the case with many newer cars that use proprietary busses for getting the audio from the head unit to the amp and speakers. As long as you have a way to connect your Alpine or Pioneer or whatever to the proprietary connector in the dash that goes to the amps and speakers, then you're fine. But in many cases, that is not possible. While the hole may be standard, the 57 pin connector inside the dash is not.

Ah my good sir, that's where Crutchfield steps in with wiring harness adapters, mounting hardware, and complete pictorial instructions. You may pay a bit of a premium over say, a big box retailer, but all the goodies they throw in makes it worth it IMO.

[doublepost=1516206581][/doublepost]

To each his own. I don't think yours is the unpopular opinion there. Mine is. Most people do not like tight suspension and feeling the road. They like the cushy Lexus ride.

Let's talk about 'cushy.'

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Scumbag BMW always trying to reduce base prices and maximize profits by offloading upfront costs.

Imagine a company doing that! Seriously, Merc, Audi, other high end brands don't even cover the still-checked stuff on your chart. Go price a 1st year inspection from Audi, etc. BMW is the only lux maker than has any kind of included maintenance.

 

[npmacuser5]

This is great. I always do 3 year leases on my BMW's, I just paid $300 up front for carplay on my wife's X3.... under this new method I will only pay $160 for 2 years if you include the first year free. Alot fairer for leasers.... Buyers might get screwed over though.

Should allow both options. Let the consumer decide what’s best for their needs. Seems like it would be an easy implementation to allow users the choice.

 

[spazzcat]

This is great. I always do 3 year leases on my BMW's, I just paid $300 up front for carplay on my wife's X3.... under this new method I will only pay $160 for 2 years if you include the first year free. Alot fairer for leasers.... Buyers might get screwed over though.

And my Ford had a free update last year to turn car play on...

 

[NomadicTy]

It was either a Lexus GX or BMW X5 for the new car in the next 2 years. I guess it's going to be the GX.

 

[DrumApple]

Good to know I'll never be buying a BMW. They haven't been relevant since the 90s/early 2000s anyway.

 

[bigjnyc]

You know what would be fairer for leasers and for buyers? If they just did it like most every other car company and just included it for free. As already in the price of the car. Standard.

Well they do include 3 years free maintenance which other car companies do not include. Any little thing that needs to be replaced or maintained is free for the life of my lease. So I'm not going to get hung up on $80, I had the brakes replaced on my car for free a few weeks ago... With any other car company I would have been looking at close to 1k for that service. Plus their customer service is top notch, I have my own concierge who books all of my service appointments, arranges for my car to be picked up and dropped off if I'm busy. A lot of little touches that are not available with other car brands or would cost a pretty penny as an added fee.

 

[whap]

Bye, Bye, Beem

 

[bigjnyc]

This is great? Really? You have lost your marbles if you think paying for CarPlay or Android Auto is great, regardless of it being a one-time fee or a "cheaper" subscription. It's not just buyers getting screwed over here. You are as well.

I'm saying its great in comparison to the current price. if I'm going to pay for it anyway I might as well pay half. In my specific case its great yes... I save a ton because I don't need the Navigation package which is about $2,000 and I don't need to pay the full $300 for carplay if I'm only going to use it for 3 years. Every situation is different... I've been paying $2k+ for navigation packages on cars for years. paying $80 a year and using Apple maps with free updates is a bargain for me.
[doublepost=1516208371][/doublepost]

I love your logic...how is paying ANYTHING for Carplay a good deal when it's a no extra cost option for all other car brands? It's not like that the price of a BMW is much cheaper now that they're charging for Carplay! It's just more money for them and less money for you. Enjoy your BMW's...

why would you pay for oil changes, repairs, and maintenance on other car brands when its included free with BMW for 3 years.

 

[spacemnspiff]

why would you pay for oil changes, repairs, and maintenance on other car brands when its included free with BMW for 3 years.

The reason why people who buy expensive goods is because of the sense of perceived superiority primarily based on price, even if the product value equivalence to the asking price doesn't exist, the economist term for that is 'Veblen Good'.

The twice or thrice the price that some pay for BMW or any luxury car for the so called soft leather and faux wood is exactly that, trying to psychologically satisfy the false sense of luxury or in other words feeding the inferiority complex. And for some folks there is value in that, nothing wrong with that, if you are open enough to acknowledge that.

 

[jona2d]

Sounds like rather than paying upfront for the software license the customer will license it annually. Think Photoshop CS4 vs Photoshop CC. You are not paying for the updates, just the license to use whatever the current version is.

The more you comment, the more obvious it is that you have no idea what CarPlay is...
CarPlay runs on your iPhone, NOT on the car. The only thing the car's system is doing is allowing a passthrough of the video feed from your iPhone to the car's display.

All of the software, all of the processing power, all of the entire CarPlay service takes place on your phone, and is only passed through to the in-dash screen.

Is there a new CarPlay update? You don't have to update your car...you update the software on your iPhone!
In addition, the consumer doesn't have to license it annually... Just having an iPhone, you already have CarPlay built into your iPhone, you just need a display that allows the video pass through to the screen.

There is no R&D for the auto manufacturer to recoup, no recurring charges for them to recoup...it's a total money grab, and the fact you KEEP defending it is absurd.

 

[SRLMJ23]

I kinda figured that out, but I still can't figure out why so many non-BMW prospects are hot and bothered by this news. In 20 years of driving BMWs there's been much more heartsinking news out of Munich. I mean the move from hydraulic to electric steering, now THAT was a moment to throw a vase against the wall.

My car is not a BMW, however, it does have electric steering instead of hydraulic and I really like the electric better. Why don't you like electric on your Beamer?

Also, isn't BMW the car where you cannot change your own oil because it has to be sucked out, instead of normal draining. I might be thinking of Mercedes Benz though. I know it super expensive to get the oil changed on whichever one it is because they have to use the special machine to suck it out. That is another money grab move by a car company. Take away our ability to change our oil ourselves, and force us to have to go to the dealer where it is ALWAYS way more expensive. I hope other companies do not follow that lead.

 

[bigjnyc]

The reason why people who buy expensive goods is because of the sense of perceived superiority primarily based on price, even if the product value equivalence to the asking price doesn't exist, the economist term for that is 'Veblen Good'.

The twice or thrice the price one pays for a BMW or any luxury car for the so called soft leather and faux wood is exactly that, trying to psychologically satisfy the false sense of luxury or in other words feeding the inferiority complex. And for some folks there is value in that, nothing wrong with that, if you are open enough to acknowledge that.

So you choose to compartmentalize everyone who purchases a luxury car in to this small psychoanalyzed box? I buy a BMW because I like the way it drives and performs. and because the perception that it's overpriced is false... I do my homework as a consumer and research many car brands. when pricing out a non-luxury car the price shoots up once you add a few extras like leather seats, technology package etc.... I find myself paying only a couple of hundred bucks more for a BMW which I enjoy driving more, I enjoy the customer service, and I enjoy the fact that repairs and maintenance are free for the life of my lease.... Sorry to burst your little analysis but if you knew me personally you would know I'm the farthest thing from that psychobabble you are throwing out there.

 

[nimbusthegreat]

BMW plans to offer CarPlay as a subscription-based service beginning next year, rather than charge a one-time fee, reports The Verge.

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Greedy cash grab by a company that already sells over priced cars. One more reason I’ll never give one cent of my money to BMW.

 

[Defthand]

I don’t blame BMW for charging for a hardware and software feature that ultimately benefits Apple. However, BMW should give you a choice of infotainment interfaces: theirs, Apple’s, Android’s, or other. You shouldn’t have to buy BMW’s system if you plan on using a third party’s.

None of this would be an issue if there was a singular, open source standard for all parties to access a car’s display, speakers, and infotainment controls.

 

[H2SO4]

What a joke. Apple should explicitly forbid this in its licensing terms.

Disclaimer ; I don't use CarPlay, (or Android Auto for that matter).
But why, BMW have given you a platform for you to use your wares. I don't see how that's any different from Apple providing the platform for you to buy apps.

 

[vipergts2207]

Sorry but not everything needs to be based on a subscription model. A subscription should supply a service and CarPlay is certainly not a service.

 

[slineaudi]

Smith also argued that the annual fee could actually work out to be cheaper for somebody with an average length lease, as the total cost after four years after the free first year of access would be $240, cheaper than the one-time $300 charge.

BMW has been trying to move their "user base" to the leasing model for decades. Just view your car they way you do your iphone. You basically lease an iphone when you trade it back in for the new model every year. Sadly, this doesn't make sense for anyone who owns their BMW for more than 3 years. It also doesn't really make sense for CarPlay. It's not a service, it's a one time software update. Is carplay software really updated every year? If BMW paid for the data my phone used while connected then that might be a different story.

 

[jona2d]

Disclaimer ; I don't use CarPlay, (or Android Auto for that matter).
But why, BMW have given you a platform for you to use your wares. I don't see how that's any different from Apple providing the platform for you to buy apps.

With that logic, are you willing to pay your TV manufacturer a subscription fee to plug your cable box into the HDMI port? Afterall, they provided you with the platform (screen) for you to use your wares.

CarPlay on a car's head unit screen/speakers is no different than an Apple TV being plugged into a TV.
The TV manufacturer isn't providing Apple TV, they are providing a screen and speakers with which to display your Apple TV. All of the software and processing is taking place on the Apple TV NOT the screen which it's being displayed.
CarPlay is essentially an Apple TV plugged into your car's head unit. It costs BMW nothing to allow CarPlay to pass video/audio through to the screen/speakers.

 

[spacemnspiff]

So you choose to compartmentalize everyone who purchases a luxury car in to this small psychoanalyzed box? I buy a BMW because I like the way it drives and performs. and because the perception that it's overpriced is false... I do my homework as a consumer and research many car brands. when pricing out a non-luxury car the price shoots up once you add a few extras like leather seats, technology package etc.... I find myself paying only a couple of hundred bucks more for a BMW which I enjoy driving more, I enjoy the customer service, and I enjoy the fact that repairs and maintenance are free for the life of my lease.... Sorry to burst your little analysis but if you knew me personally you would know I'm the farthest thing from that psychobabble you are throwing out there.

You probably are an anomaly, buying it for what you perceive as value, the value being suspension tuning of a BMW. I was speaking to the luxury aspect of the the so called luxury car, in that case the buyer is buying the 'badge' offered at a certain 'price'. If not for both, the same exact car would not be valued as such.

Suspension tuning is not witchcraft (to put it simply - it's three macro-level engineering parameters), there are plenty of cars that handle better than a BMW (not all tiers of BMWs handle well either), suspension tuning comes with it's trade offs, one of them being is fatigue, more engaging drive is directly correlated with fatigue. To make an extreme analogy, a normal BMW owner could not handle one shift of driving an even far more engaging car at Le Mans or any professional motorsport. That leads into the reason why some people find softer suspension appealing (softer being relative). The suspension tuning in of itself is not should not be commanding 2-3x the price, so a car-maker has to create a sense of perceived 'luxury'. Hence the point I made.

 

[Juicy Box]

I think people are misunderstanding.

This yearly fee is instead of, not in addition to, the $300 upgrade fee.

I don't think all the poster were thinking that.....

 

[H2SO4]

With that logic, are you willing to pay your TV manufacturer a subscription fee to plug your cable box into the HDMI port? Afterall, they provided you with the platform (screen) for you to use your wares.

CarPlay on a car's head unit screen/speakers is no different than an Apple TV being plugged into a TV.
The TV manufacturer isn't providing Apple TV, they are providing a screen and speakers with which to display your Apple TV. All of the software and processing is taking place on the Apple TV NOT the screen which it's being displayed.
CarPlay is essentially an Apple TV plugged into your car's head unit. It costs BMW nothing to allow CarPlay to pass video/audio through to the screen/speakers.

Yes, I'll make my choice. As BMW have done here and as Apple have done each themselves. Guess what I don't use the M$ Office 365 and I forego the features offered. I'll do without as it doesn't suit me. There are other options.