BMW comes with seat heating subscription – will CarPlay remain free?
At Apple we sometimes complain about subscriptions. BMW proves that it can always be worse. In South Korea you now have to subscribe to your heated seats. Bizarre. Or secretly logical? And what about a CarPlay subscription?
Read on after the ad.
BMW with seat heating as a subscription
At first glance it seems too crazy for words. In South Korea, the German car company BMW has launched a remarkable business model. Your seat heating is built into the car as standard, but you need a subscription to be able to use it. You pay 18 euros per month, or 180 euros per year. In addition, you can also take out a subscription for steering wheel heating, High Beam Assist and other assistance systems. It looks like apps from the App Store, where you often need a subscription for tiny extra functions.
This trend has of course been visible for some time. We are moving more and more from possession to use. You no longer buy individual MP3s in iTunes, but listen to the entire catalog for a fixed amount per month. Ditto movies and series, for which we now have Netflix and Apple TV+.
Automaker is also becoming more and more service provider
The automakers also notice that they are increasingly being pushed into a corner by Apple and other tech companies. They are still allowed to make the cars, but a large part of the interaction is now provided by Google (Android Auto) and Apple (CarPlay).
With the new version of CarPlay, which will be introduced next year, that will only get worse. Then Apple’s system will take over almost the entire dashboard of your car, down to the speedometer and air conditioning controls.
So the automakers have to look for other revenue models, and BMW is now testing that with all kinds of comfort functions in subscription form. So it does Apple’s trick. Of course you can also use all functions for free for a month. Maybe it’s also an idea to think about interim commercials?
CarPlay subscription at BMW?
We are actually a little concerned. Because what if this model becomes a success? Are we going to pay for the use of CarPlay in the month next year? In fact, BMW had already tried this before. Then it was not a success. But yeah, a lot has changed since then, and automakers are under increasing pressure. Time will tell.
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