Yet another Great Article!!!! Thank you Apple Insider!!!!!
I've been looking for an aftermarket 2-Din unit to replace the god awful Blue&Me (Microsoft's glorified BT handsfree) in my Alfa Romeo Brera for quite some time now. There have been a few interesting options out there but nothing really revolutionary. Perhaps Alpine or Kenwood will now release a proper head unit with iOS integration and proper Apple maps? Perhaps some cool OBDII apps too? That would be truly awesome!
...I know OBDII is a bit gimmicky, but most modern sportscars have it as standard now days so it can't hurt
Try making sense first and then you'll get relevant questions.
'Kay, I'll spell it out for you. You don't give a flying frick about the actual argument; you'd rather just post baiting questions that have nothing to do with it in an attempt to derail.
My problem with the fingerprint sensor is this: it has to work 100 percent of the time for 100 percent of the population. Anything less and there is another major "scandal" no matter how contrived.
My problem with the fingerprint sensor is this: it has to work 100 percent of the time for 100 percent of the population. Anything less and there is another major "scandal" no matter how contrived.
Exactly. The thing about a passcode is that 100% of the blame is placed squarely on the user. A fingerprint sensor, however, puts most–if not all–of the blame on Apple.
My problem with the fingerprint sensor is this: it has to work 100 percent of the time for 100 percent of the population. Anything less and there is another major "scandal" no matter how contrived.
Why would that be a scandal?!
If a fingerprint sensor won't work for you then you'll just have to use a passcode like on any other smartphone out there. And forget about it working for 100% of population, some people have damaged fingertips and you can't really blame Apple for not being able to read a damaged fingerprint.
If a fingerprint sensor won't work for you then you'll just have to use a passcode like on any other smartphone out there. And forget about it working for 100% of population, some people have damaged fingertips and you can't really blame Apple for not being able to read a damaged fingerprint.
It should still be able to save a damaged fingerprint. It would need to have a way to switch from the fingerprint unlock to the pass code just in case you damage your fingerprint.
If a fingerprint sensor won't work for you then you'll just have to use a passcode like on any other smartphone out there. And forget about it working for 100% of population, some people have damaged fingertips and you can't really blame Apple for not being able to read a damaged fingerprint.
i said "manufactured" scandal like Antenna gate, or bumper gate etc. if it is only 99% successful tens-hundreds of thousands of people will be affected. They will be vocal.
My problem with the fingerprint sensor is this: it has to work 100 percent of the time for 100 percent of the population. Anything less and there is another major "scandal" no matter how contrived.
Someone better tell HP, Lenovo, IBM, Dell and Panasonic this before it's too late.
Agreed. It's the only thing I dislike about my car (but, in fairness, the interfaces are equally bad in the other vehicles I've had -- Audi & Lexus)
I recently bought a BMW with Apps, Internet etc. I don't use any of it - it is far too cumbersome with respect to my iPhone. This speaks volumes about what BMW should do and what Apple should do. Apple are masters in computer ergonomics and BMW are not. iOS in the car would be welcome in any future BMW I own. Hope BMW agree. So far they seem to think differently.
Someone better tell HP, Lenovo, IBM, Dell and Panasonic this before it's too late.
I did a search and there are consumer complaints on all of them. And we are talking about add-ons to computers here, not the primary way to access a device. And Apple get more stick from a hostile press than any of those companies. As you know.
The best carputer today is what's in a Tesla Model S. That is the capability that OEMs should be moving to in every car they make (aside from the fact that they should be emulating Tesla in many other ways too).
I don't know if outsourcing to Apple will help them get there faster. But clearly they aren't moving there fast enough right now.
In the meantime, I will be curious about what's in it for the OEMs. Differentiation is a big deal for the OEMs. Having the same infotainment system as another company simply destroys the profit margin for one of those most profitable accessories. So I wonder what Apple has offered them as the sweetner....
The total car market worldwide annually is about 65M (growing, perhaps at about 2 - 3% per year). Let's say Apple can capture 25% of the market, and can charge $750 to the manufacturer (who will probably double the price to the consumer).
That's a revenue opportunity of ~$12B. At a profit margin of 20% - 25%, that's $2.4B - $3.0B in incremental earnings, good for $36B - $45B in additional market cap, assuming a (I wish!!) P/E ratio of 15x (the long-run average for the US stock market). That's ~10% of the current market cap, or $40 - $50 extra per share.
Not bad, but it's not huge. (However, it's important for Apple to do this, so as to signal to the market that it is pursuing all major innovation and growth opportunities).
1) The average price of a car is substantially lower outside the developed world than it is in North America/Europe. As such I would suggest that the theoretical maximum market is probably half or even a lower fraction of the total worldwide market.
2) Even in North America and Europe, trends don't favour this market. The car market itself is shrinking as youth drive less and increasing move to a more urban lifestyle, carsharing, etc. And guess which population segment adopts technology the fastest?
3) Apple capturing 25% of such a market will be very optimistic for several reasons. Yes, I don't forget when Apple wanted only 1% of the phone market. This is different. Not in the least is because I can't see carmakers simply giving up their established infotainment brands. And because I can't see more than total die-hard Apple fans picking up iOS in Car initially. It's one thing to buy an iPhone or iPad. It's another to lock your car into an ecosystem, possibly restricting which devices you buy in the future and maybe even resale value of the vehicle (only other Apple users will consider buying your car). Then again, there's a very strong desire for more usable infotainment systems. So we'll see.
The best carputer today is what's in a Tesla Model S.
I really hope Tesla and Apple team up to swap that with a truly custom Apple solution. It's already astounding, but that combination would make the Tesla S and X second to absolutely nothing in their classes.
I spoke at length with a NVidia engineer at Siggraph about their automobile integration effort. They had a demo of a center dash display which could show the normal speed dials and other status information. You could also scroll through other displays much like flipping between Cover Flow songs on an iPhone.
NVidia wants the automobile software to be fully upgradable but said that they don't expect third party apps for the main console display due to safety reasons and because the automobile manufacturers want full control over that. They also want the compute modules themselves to be upgradeable at a dealer. They expect at least two for each car and hope to be used for advanced things like self driving cars. The modules are hardened for use in the harsh environment of an automobile.
NVidia also wants a separate display for the passengers. This could be using a separate screen or a dual display that shows different information to the right and left of the center console. A user interface was mentioned where by a passenger acting as a navigator could find a location and then swipe it over to a map on the driver's screen. They do expect third party apps to be available for the passenger screens.
I asked about the problem of distracted driving for any new displays on a driver's display and he said that this was being carefully investigated. A balance has to be found between providing the driver with the information they need but not so much that they lose concentration on the road. I think that nothing should be shown on a driver's screen that cannot be absorbed with a brief glance. A driver should never have to look away from the road for more than half a second.
He's got it all wrong. This isn't a "hardware" solution. It's not an iModule. iOS is not going to be installed in your car. It will run iOS from your phone, over wifi or USB. So kind of a two-way airplay, that lets you control it from the screen you're airplaying to. That way you don't have to worry about upgrading, as the upgrades will come with new iOS versions on your phone. Their may be some Apple hardware involved, but most likely just an authentication chip. The licensing will be very similar to the way that speaker manufactures incorporate airplay audio into their devices. Of course their will be strict hardware specifications that automakers must follow, such as screen size and resolution, but that hardware won't be supplied by Apple.
Comments
Try making sense first and then you'll get relevant questions.
Yet another Great Article!!!! Thank you Apple Insider!!!!!
I've been looking for an aftermarket 2-Din unit to replace the god awful Blue&Me (Microsoft's glorified BT handsfree) in my Alfa Romeo Brera for quite some time now. There have been a few interesting options out there but nothing really revolutionary. Perhaps Alpine or Kenwood will now release a proper head unit with iOS integration and proper Apple maps? Perhaps some cool OBDII apps too? That would be truly awesome!
...I know OBDII is a bit gimmicky, but most modern sportscars have it as standard now days so it can't hurt
'Kay, I'll spell it out for you. You don't give a flying frick about the actual argument; you'd rather just post baiting questions that have nothing to do with it in an attempt to derail.
Exactly. The thing about a passcode is that 100% of the blame is placed squarely on the user. A fingerprint sensor, however, puts most–if not all–of the blame on Apple.
The problem with OBDII is the the plugin unit cannot directly to a iDevice via bluetooth. Both devices have to be on the same wifi network.
Why would that be a scandal?!
If a fingerprint sensor won't work for you then you'll just have to use a passcode like on any other smartphone out there. And forget about it working for 100% of population, some people have damaged fingertips and you can't really blame Apple for not being able to read a damaged fingerprint.
It should still be able to save a damaged fingerprint. It would need to have a way to switch from the fingerprint unlock to the pass code just in case you damage your fingerprint.
i said "manufactured" scandal like Antenna gate, or bumper gate etc. if it is only 99% successful tens-hundreds of thousands of people will be affected. They will be vocal.
Someone better tell HP, Lenovo, IBM, Dell and Panasonic this before it's too late.
I recently bought a BMW with Apps, Internet etc. I don't use any of it - it is far too cumbersome with respect to my iPhone. This speaks volumes about what BMW should do and what Apple should do. Apple are masters in computer ergonomics and BMW are not. iOS in the car would be welcome in any future BMW I own. Hope BMW agree. So far they seem to think differently.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Relic
Someone better tell HP, Lenovo, IBM, Dell and Panasonic this before it's too late.
I did a search and there are consumer complaints on all of them. And we are talking about add-ons to computers here, not the primary way to access a device. And Apple get more stick from a hostile press than any of those companies. As you know.
I don't know if outsourcing to Apple will help them get there faster. But clearly they aren't moving there fast enough right now.
In the meantime, I will be curious about what's in it for the OEMs. Differentiation is a big deal for the OEMs. Having the same infotainment system as another company simply destroys the profit margin for one of those most profitable accessories. So I wonder what Apple has offered them as the sweetner....
The total car market worldwide annually is about 65M (growing, perhaps at about 2 - 3% per year). Let's say Apple can capture 25% of the market, and can charge $750 to the manufacturer (who will probably double the price to the consumer).
That's a revenue opportunity of ~$12B. At a profit margin of 20% - 25%, that's $2.4B - $3.0B in incremental earnings, good for $36B - $45B in additional market cap, assuming a (I wish!!) P/E ratio of 15x (the long-run average for the US stock market). That's ~10% of the current market cap, or $40 - $50 extra per share.
Not bad, but it's not huge. (However, it's important for Apple to do this, so as to signal to the market that it is pursuing all major innovation and growth opportunities).
1) The average price of a car is substantially lower outside the developed world than it is in North America/Europe. As such I would suggest that the theoretical maximum market is probably half or even a lower fraction of the total worldwide market.2) Even in North America and Europe, trends don't favour this market. The car market itself is shrinking as youth drive less and increasing move to a more urban lifestyle, carsharing, etc. And guess which population segment adopts technology the fastest?
3) Apple capturing 25% of such a market will be very optimistic for several reasons. Yes, I don't forget when Apple wanted only 1% of the phone market. This is different. Not in the least is because I can't see carmakers simply giving up their established infotainment brands. And because I can't see more than total die-hard Apple fans picking up iOS in Car initially. It's one thing to buy an iPhone or iPad. It's another to lock your car into an ecosystem, possibly restricting which devices you buy in the future and maybe even resale value of the vehicle (only other Apple users will consider buying your car). Then again, there's a very strong desire for more usable infotainment systems. So we'll see.
I really hope Tesla and Apple team up to swap that with a truly custom Apple solution. It's already astounding, but that combination would make the Tesla S and X second to absolutely nothing in their classes.
NVidia wants the automobile software to be fully upgradable but said that they don't expect third party apps for the main console display due to safety reasons and because the automobile manufacturers want full control over that. They also want the compute modules themselves to be upgradeable at a dealer. They expect at least two for each car and hope to be used for advanced things like self driving cars. The modules are hardened for use in the harsh environment of an automobile.
NVidia also wants a separate display for the passengers. This could be using a separate screen or a dual display that shows different information to the right and left of the center console. A user interface was mentioned where by a passenger acting as a navigator could find a location and then swipe it over to a map on the driver's screen. They do expect third party apps to be available for the passenger screens.
I asked about the problem of distracted driving for any new displays on a driver's display and he said that this was being carefully investigated. A balance has to be found between providing the driver with the information they need but not so much that they lose concentration on the road. I think that nothing should be shown on a driver's screen that cannot be absorbed with a brief glance. A driver should never have to look away from the road for more than half a second.