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Apple Launches CarPlay At Geneva Show
An anonymous reader writes "Apple announced today a system called CarPlay, which integrates your iPhone with your car, with Siri voice control. CarPlay will be offered in Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo vehicles this year, and others 'down the road.' From the press release: 'CarPlay makes driving directions more intuitive by working with Maps to anticipate destinations based on recent trips via contacts, emails or texts, and provides routing instructions, traffic conditions and ETA. You can also simply ask Siri and receive spoken turn-by-turn directions, along with Maps, which will appear on your car’s built-in display.'
Siri, do a Heads Up Display and flash my strobe lights at oncoming cars so they crash.
Where is that exit *SMASH* oh.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Apple seems to have invented what a lot of people have been using for years - a head unit with MirrorLink capability. How come it is suddenly wonderful?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Apple Maps! Just what I always wanted!
So will it be patchable through your phone, or will it severely lag behind phone development, like every other "Car OS" we've seen so far...
Magic doesn't work in my presence. My power of disbelief is too strong.
As opposed to every other navigation system, some of which even make you use a mouse-type controller on the dash to browse through the myriad of available controls.
Magic doesn't work in my presence. My power of disbelief is too strong.
I'm just waiting for Clippy to pop up and say "I see you're having an accident. Would you like me to play a Funeral Dirge?"
On an Apple product? Seems unlikely... Perhaps on some other product.
The 3 auto makers offering it first are all high-end luxury brands. That means the "early adopters" are the same people who have plenty of disposable income to have already purchased superior options.
(Personally, if I had they money to be driving around a Ferrari, I would already have a really nice custom stereo system in it, which would surely have a dedicated GPS system in it. Why get stuck in a situation where you can't find some place you need to get to, just because you accidentally left your phone at home or at work?)
This integration makes a lot of sense, but I think the people who will get the most out of it are the masses driving inexpensive economy cars, minivans, pickups, and mid priced sedans or sporty cars. (Again, the wealthy have the means to pay for "concierge" services by phone where they can make requests of a live operator who answers. Why settle for an automated system like Siri?)
fringe roaming as well where you don't have to leave the USA but you do pay the $20 a meg fee.
::head desk::
Didnt apple make a big fuss about google using the term "appstore"? so google changes the name to "googleplay" Now Apple decides to use the term "carplay"??? Let me guess, now a new lawsuit on google for using the word "play"
Can't argue you could confuse an "appstore" style online software download site with a car navigation system though. Apple at least had a smidgen of a legal argument over "appstore".
Magic doesn't work in my presence. My power of disbelief is too strong.
To reduce the number of accidental touches on a part of the car that is touched a lot? My bluetooth controls requires a small hold.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Well, you could just say "OK Google". Oh wait
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
"Technology is ruining our lives."
Says the AC who is using technology to post on an article about technology on a technology geek site hahahaha
Oh the humanity. Having to hold a button for a second with your thumb. Without having to take it off the wheel. At all.
So? It can still be easily made to be just pressed instead of being held. The question is only of which one provides better usability and safety.
How long do you think you need to hold it that it's something worth complaining about? Seriously. You press and hold for about a second or two just to prevent accidental presses from activating it - it's a deliberate "I have pressed this button" length of time, not a "the entire time I'm interacting with it I have to keep the button pressed."
Blows my mind to see this complaint being modded up but I guess the anti-Apple shills need to find anything possible to complain about...
I wouldn't buy a car that has this unless it also works with other phones.
I have a long history of pro apple posts. I'd just like to go on record saying this doesn't excite me at all. (neither does a watch)
Hilarious you made me laugh mod up Funny.but no mod points
The 3 auto makers offering it first are all high-end luxury brands.
Volvo cars aren't exactly priced in the stratosphere. Even their expensive offerings are still FAR cheaper than those from Mercedes and Ferrari. Volvo makes nice cars but they are mostly at the lower end of the luxury segment if you consider them a luxury vehicle at all.
Personally, if I had they money to be driving around a Ferrari, I would already have a really nice custom stereo system in it, which would surely have a dedicated GPS system in it.
A reasonable thing to do but why not have the option of layering on Siri or similar Android services in addition? I'd rather have the consumer electronics stuff handled by a consumer electronics company whenever possible. I have a GPS in my truck but it is woefully out of date, expensive and the graphics pretty much suck. Car companies are REALLY bad at updating firmware and they don't do enough product volume to get costs down to reasonable levels. When possible it makes a lot more sense to use something like a smartphone to handle many of these tasks.
(Again, the wealthy have the means to pay for "concierge" services by phone where they can make requests of a live operator who answers. Why settle for an automated system like Siri?)
Just because you have a bit more cash doesn't mean you want to spend it needlessly. Concierge services are expensive and most people who can afford a nice luxury vehicle didn't get their money by being frivolous with their cash. It's not an either/or proposition either. Personally I'd be more likely to use Siri (even with its deficiencies) than some high priced live service even if I had the money just because it would probably be an occasional use thing with me.
The CarPlay name is based on AirPlay. Try trolling harder.
If you have this you better hope you have nothing to hide from the other people who might be in your car.
Siri: "I see that you have received a text from Ms. Longlegs with the address for the Super 8 motel, would you like directions?"
Siri: "I noticed that your most frequent destination is: Woody's Rub and Tug, would you like directions? Shall I make a reservation?"
Frankly I dont see how you could confuse "appstore" as there are hundreds of "appstores" out there but I digress. I simply found it interesting they would use the word play after all that hoopla
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
First off all, most of the people who hate Apple are right here on your favorite website. Not exactly Ferrari / Volvo / Mercedes big customers.
Second of all, lots of people like (or at least tolerate) the Apple brand. Makes more sense than Ford attaching themselves to Microsoft.....
I think it's a dumb idea (and I have a lot of Apple hardware and software). I like my cars like I like my women - simple, easy to fix and not associated with a lot of proprietary add on junk that will out date in a couple of years. Upgrades are hell.
But that's just me.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I keep saying apple doesn't so much innovate as they take things that are already there, make them more appealing to consumers, and rake in profits.
I don't know why everyone says Apple needs to innovate they are doing fine without innovation really. Have been since Jobs went to Xerox-Parc and "innovated" the GUI and mouse for the first Mac.
Seeing how to re-package things that will make big time Money has become what Apple is really good at.
Only the rabid drooling idiots in the tech industry.
It's a feature you don't need to use, and I suspect the number of people in the market for one of these cars AND who are rabid anti-Apple is pretty small.
Pretty much just rich douchebags in Silicon Valley -- and nobody gives a crap if they're butt hurt about something. Because they're just rich douchebags in Silicon Valley.
Of all the really ass-backwards, poorly performing parts of a modern automobile, the head unit has got to be one of the absolute worst. It requires a minimal, simple interface, and the ability to multi-task effectively. Even the aftermarket pieces which try to do a better job end up sucking horribly. Of all things that matter, Apple (I grudgingly admit) probably has the best chance to solve. MS sure isn't going to get it right (they've tried, and failed, no suprise). And most of the current miscarriages of technology are based on linux already.
But instead of taking over and dominating the head unit, they seem content to simply add a couple of buttons and a special BT interface for iPhone users. Shame, really.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
1) Because it had cosmetic issues (in USA anyway, I'm aware of the bad directions in Japan, etc) in the past, it is forever damned?
2) That's why their sales keep going down, right? And that's why they completely lose the user satisfaction surveys. Why, the iPads only came in on the #1 spot in South Korea in terms of user satisfaction. On Samsung's home turf... Oh my.
Well if you buy in 2014, then you can avoid Honda and Hyundai as well. Later on you may have to avoid BMW, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, PSA, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota, . . . basically you've got Renault,Fiat, China FAW, SAIC left then.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
So how wildly popular and successful were they when Bill Gates had to loan them several hundred million to keep them as a competition? Seems like you are forgetting the years of PowerPC clones and when Steve was fired.
1. Apple maps is a joke and completely useless
The launch of iMaps was botched and it still has a ways to go, but it's not completely useless. The alternative for in-car navigation was it is may never be updated if the owner decides not to fork over money to buy a new navigation DVD.
2. considering how many people hate Apple, they're losing prospective customers for a $60,000 car for example because of one tiny feature.
You mean considering how many slashdot geeks hate Apple don't you? The general public likes Apple. Also, you are aware that many other car manufacturers are getting on board, right? It's the same as iPod integration: many of them offer it today, and there have not been riots in the streets over this feature.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
There is one here.
I would never ever buy a car with apple in the dash, but I can afford these cars.
About 6/10 in my office has android phones, 2/10 has windows phones and the rest are on iphones. This is a bank in a country where iphone adoption is considered very high.
So unless they make it work with other devices, they lost a bunch of other potential customers that I know of too.
Not forgetting anything.
Apple struggled to recover from the onslaught of the more open PC market.
They removed Steve and brought in a corporate guy to remediate the situation.
Apple declined much more and they licensed their OS in hopes of turning things around which canibalized their sales.
They brought Steve Jobs back he has some more ideas after being out in the woods starting Next and Pixar.
They closed their OS licensing and shifted to consumer products instead of computers.
Apple has been on an upward trajectory ever since. and they seem to have a formula of taking what they see in the market, repackaging, and exploiting the targeted market. Seems like cars are the next domino. maybe home automation will be the next one.
Exactly, his life has been ruined. He's posting on /., how much worse can he get?
I don't know about you. The car I'm driving is 9 years old and it is still going strong. I will likely keep it for another 3-4 years at least. Gadgets don't last this long. I'm afraid it might work wonder now but in a few years it is an eye sore every time I get into the car. I wouldn't buy car comes with this kind of crap. Give me bluetooth and auxiliary jack. I'm satisfied.
You're forgetting that Apple paid back Microsoft and surpassed them years ago as the wealthiest tech company.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Oh the humanity. Having to hold a button for a second with your thumb. Without having to take it off the wheel. At all.
.
You might be surprised as to how much "road attention" you lose performing such a simple maneuver. Anecdotally, I once totaled a Buick because I took my eyes off the road for .5 seconds to check the clock. Long story (chock full of statistics and more anecdotes) short, while your brain is on pause waiting for Siri to respond to that button hold, it's not paying full attention to the task at hand, namely operating a ton-and-a-half of steel and glass at high rates of speed.
As opposed to every other navigation system...
Nonsense hyperbole, and smacks loudly of fanboy-ism.
My wife's VW has a single button on the steering wheel that activates the voice command system, and it's the same system VW has been using for half a decade. Oh, and BTW, you only have to press the button, not hold it. Works as well as one would expect a voice command system to. And I know VW can't be the only one with such a simple interface - Ford's Sync immediately comes to mind.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Of all things that matter, Apple (I grudgingly admit) probably has the best chance to solve
Actually after sitting in a Model S, I'd say Tesla is probably furthest along the right track. They seem to be the only car company that has figured out how to update firmware and the 17" screen they use makes a LOT more sense than most of the other systems I've seen. A little 6" screen seems a bit out of date and certainly can't display much. Not saying Tesla has everything perfect but its the most innovative system I've seen. Certainly more interesting than tighter iPhone integration.
>> I like my cars like I like my women...
Ready to go home with me and geared up to drive both ways... and not associated with a lot of proprietary add on junk that will out date in a couple of years
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
I don't understand why you'd list Hyundai to this. According to the truth table you posted, they have ticked all four boxes. Also seems I was too hasty about Volvo, but then that is Apple marketing for you :)
"I don't know why everyone says Apple needs to innovate they are doing fine without innovation really. Have been since Jobs went to Xerox-Parc and "innovated" the GUI and mouse for the first Mac."
Except for when they weren't doing just fine and were teetering on bankruptcy. People saying Apple needs to innovate are seeing the writing on the wall that once iPhones/iPads become stagnant like iPods and OS 9 did they will fail and fall quickly.
I was responding to a specific sentence. Reading that sentence and then reading my reply in context is part of communicating.
What makes you think adding the CarPlay option precludes other options from also being functional? You think CarPlay is going to prevent Bluetooth from existing?
1. Apple maps is a joke and completely useless
The launch of iMaps was botched and it still has a ways to go, but it's not completely useless. The alternative for in-car navigation was it is may never be updated if the owner decides not to fork over money to buy a new navigation DVD.
The alternative alternative would be people using Google Maps and/or Navigation, tying into the cars existing Bluetooth/aux in port, and not driving down private driveways insisting "this is the best route to Roundtop Mountain!!!"
2. considering how many people hate Apple, they're losing prospective customers for a $60,000 car for example because of one tiny feature.
You mean considering how many slashdot geeks hate Apple don't you? The general public likes Apple.
That sounds like fanboy talk to me. Corporate executives, government employees, and any other high-powered types who are already tied deeply to Blackberry might not care to pay extra for a feature they'll never use. How many people does Google employ? I bet they wouldn't care much for iPhone integration, either.
Point being, just because you can't fathom that there might be a subset of the population who aren't madly in love with a certain company's products doesn't mean the aforementioned subset doesn't exist.
Also, you are aware that many other car manufacturers are getting on board, right? It's the same as iPod integration: many of them offer it today, and there have not been riots in the streets over this feature.
For me, I wouldn't care if they put an iPlug hidden in the glovebox, but if using all the features of the $60,000 automobile I just bought means being locked into any proprietary ecosystem, I won't be spending my money with that car company.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
1. Apple maps is a joke and completely useless
Based on what? Yeah they flubbed the roll out but I've used it since and it mostly works fine. I'm guessing you are one of those people who read all the bad press and presumed that Apple would never fix the problem. Guess what? Over over 30 million people use Apple Maps mostly without problems. Apple Maps is certainly not a joke and anything but "completely useless". Your assertion is mostly without any basis to support it.
2. considering how many people hate Apple, they're losing prospective customers for a $60,000 car for example because of one tiny feature.
Apple sells millions of devices a year and you think people "hate Apple"? Have you actually been to an Apple store lately? They are packed. Nobody buys Apple products because they have to. They are all discretionary purchases and people buy Apple's gear because they... gasp, LIKE the products. Who knew?
Maybe YOU don't like Apple but out here in the real world Apple is wildly popular.
Define "work with". Just about every new car supports Bluetooth Audio nowadays. You really think CarPlay is going to remove that functionality? You're really saying you'd avoid consideration of a car that has satisfactory integration features with the phone you own, but has advanced integration with a phone you don't own?
So what exactly was it that sent them to near bankruptcy in that era? successful innovation? or a lack thereof?
If it supports full BT 4.0 and all the relevant protocols, and none of the features in the dash will refuse to run because the phone is unsupported then I guess there won't be much complaining.
Considering how apple has handled open standards in the past, I suspect this will not be the case though.
But we'll see soon.
From TechCrunch:
Tell me again how this is somehow better than the Bluetooth connection everybody is using now?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
First of all you've clearly stated adding CarPlay makes the first three less tempting to you in the rather illogical premise that adding a feature to a car makes it less desirable to you. Second, you have said nothing about having alternate integration that would make a car more appealing. Lastly, a feature like this is the same as iPod integration or GPS navigation. Some people will find it important; some people not. Seems like this feature will be available across most manufacturers sooner or later.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Not at all. They didn't reveal any hardware.
They revealed SOFTWARE that is smart enough to allow car manufacturers to leverage iOS with crap hardware that only has to stream video and return touch coordinates through some simple APIs.
It's cool stuff. It should have been pushed out 2 yrs ago, but I don't think anyone else is doing this right now.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
don't u think that now that apple has car companies building standardized dumb consoles calling their apis that it will build momentum that will pave the way for a standard that others can follow?
it won't take but a few lines of code for manufacturers to call a google or msft api instead of an apple api, and these companies will be smart to configure their os in the car software to drive the same dumb hardware.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
And I'm sure they tried both. Perhaps drivers got annoyed when they got Siri speaking when they accidentally hit the button whilst turning the wheel.
You might be surprised as to how much "road attention" you lose performing such a simple maneuver.
Yes I would be surprised. And I wouldn't take your word for it. Especially as you example is of taking your eyes off the road, not a long press of a button that is already at your fingertip.
I don't recall Apple being near bankruptcy? They were a marginalized computer company with 15 billion in cash reserves around 1996 if I recall correctly. At the time they were still profitable, but they were continuing to lose market share. Also, Apple was primarily a computer company struggling to remain relevant and not the diverse electronics powerhouse the company is today. It took the return of Steve jobs and a refocusing on a different model to change Apples trajectory.
I couldn't say if Apples decline in market share was based upon a lack of innovation. Certainly the computer market was then and continues to be a wasteland of carnage with minuscule innovation overall. Innovation in computing was not really the order of the day back then or today.
Apple decline could be a predictable result of losing the titanic struggle of OS/GUI domination. To me, it is more amazing that Apple was able to profitably remain in the market when so many other companies failed. Without a shift to what they are doing now, they likely would have declined even further or been sold off as Wall Street kept saying needed to happen.
Innovation or lack thereof is not always a predictor of success or lack of it. The free market is a fickle thing. Apples success today is that they changed what they do and how they do it. Their model for pursuing their business seems to be what is thriving. It is the strategy that seems to have played out successfully and not any one particular product. This new tack has worked well for them up to this point. As to the future??? who knows. No company every remains on top for long.
Very possible indeed.
Frankly I dont see how you could confuse "appstore" as there are hundreds of "appstores" out there
All of them following the Apple App Store. There were other web-sites where you could buy and download software earlier, but they weren't called App Stores.
I hate to break it to you, but Google has shitty maps in areas too. Apple may be worse, but its mostly outlier cases (like yours). And by outlier I mean every rural area in the country and a bunch of populated areas. If I had a dime for every time Google routed me in a shitty, misdirected, or simply impossible way I would be the one paying for dinner when Sergey and I went out. I use Waze, which is somewhere between Google and Apple, but I can at least edit the map when I find a f*ed up area, and when it tells me what time I can expect to arrive, it's usually very, very accurate.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The big advantage of this system is getting rid of the GPS DVDs, which guarantee your data will be out of date (or expensive to replace).
Considering how apple has handled open standards in the past, I suspect this will not be the case though.
Even if your viewpoint were right, Apple aren't making the cars. If you think Apple can dictate to Ferrari what other interfaces are in the car besides CarPlay, I think you might be entering conspiracy theory land.
We had a rental car with Ford Sync for two weeks. It's nothing like simple or intuitive. I write software for a living, and I can't imagine what went through the Sync developers' heads. It's a colossal of usability, speed, efficiency, intuition, and functionality. While Ford is dropping Microsoft, they can't replace it too soon. I need a new car, and I explicitly won't get anything with Ford Sync or the BMW iDrive which is less crappy, but still junk but easier to use.
I don't know, but it works for me.
The alternative alternative would be people using Google Maps and/or Navigation, tying into the cars existing Bluetooth/aux in port, and not driving down private driveways insisting "this is the best route to Roundtop Mountain!!!"
There has never been a sat-nav product ever that didn't have examples of routes that are impossible in the real world. None. And certainly not Google Maps. Heck Garmin has been doing this longer than most, and you still get impossible routes on their sat-navs.
iPhones are disproportionately represented among those that make $100k/year and up. If you know someone that makes a lot of money, you will be right most of the time if you guess that they've got an iPhone in their pocket. You may be wrong as much as 20% of the time, but considering the marketshare numbers for Android, that's actually pretty counter-intuitive.
You might be surprised as to how much "road attention" you lose performing such a simple maneuver.
Yes I would be surprised. And I wouldn't take your word for it. Especially as you example is of taking your eyes off the road, not a long press of a button that is already at your fingertip.
Yea, too bad there's not a plethora of existing studies that show how non-visual distractions are just as bad (if not worse, in some cases) as vision-based ones, huh?
http://www.scientificamerican....
http://www.businessinsider.com...
http://mentalhealth.about.com/...
http://www.motherjones.com/kev...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
My point was to provide a counter-point to OP's statement that " every [non-Apple] navigation system" lacks a simple, steering-wheel based activation system for voice controls.
YMMV when it comes to how well the system works for you, although admittedly you are not the first person I've heard complain about Sync.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
I already have that, it's called a Bluetooth adapter, and it works with ALL brands of phone. Fuck Apple.
All of which refer to talking to devices, not a long press of a button. Which are certainly relevant to the question of using Siri for various tasks, but has nothing to do with long/short presses on a button.
The alternative alternative would be people using Google Maps and/or Navigation, tying into the cars existing Bluetooth/aux in port, and not driving down private driveways insisting "this is the best route to Roundtop Mountain!!!"
There has never been a sat-nav product ever that didn't have examples of routes that are impossible in the real world. None. And certainly not Google Maps. Heck Garmin has been doing this longer than most, and you still get impossible routes on their sat-navs.
So then, I guess the difference is between Apple and Google Maps users, in that the Google users are smart enough to know that signs that say things like "Private Drive," "Dead End," or "No Trespassing" actually mean something?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
All of which refer to talking to devices, not a long press of a button. Which are certainly relevant to the question of using Siri for various tasks, but has nothing to do with long/short presses on a button.
Probably because, thus far, no car manufacturer has been stupid enough to put a 'long press' interface in for steering wheel controls.
Might be a reason for that.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Had been.
The are just about out of the momentum that Steve Jobs left behind.
Apple is Steve Jobs. He was as much of the product as anything sold by Apple.
He had great charisma, he new how to speak so people wanted to listen, and he knew how to be a media darling.
He was also highly driven, got be to better better then they thought they could be, and was highly intelligent.
When he spoke, it felt like he was in love with the product he was talking about. He told you why he thought it was awesome, and with enthusiasm,.
No other CEO at Apple has had all those qualities. Every other one felt like they where just selling you something they happened to have.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Sorry to spoil your irrational bigotry:
http://www.techhive.com/articl...
Well, while that is particularly stupid, that's also one person; the article I linked about Roundtop Mountain points out that a lot of Apple Maps users continue to trespass on this lady's property because the app told them to, despite all the posted signs pointing out that it's a private drive.
I would ask if the lady in your link ignored any posted signs, but considering she took a walk down a busy, dangerous highway because her phone told her to...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Has their trajectory diminished yet? I was unaware of a decline of Apple at least currently. Thus far the trajectory continues to rise for now.
Certainly you are correct about Steve Jobs being Apple when he was there, but that doesn't mean that he was "It" and anything or anyone else spells impending doom for Apple. That is simply one possible outcome for which I currently see no evidence.
What evidence can you provide that apple is out of momentum? Certainly not sales or profitability.
What do you base your assessment on exactly?
Based on what I am seeing with a push into the Auto market, Apple can continue to make even more record profits and record sales of devices that it hasn't invented, but which it seems to be able to put together in a way that is pleasing to hordes of consumers.
So for the interim, I see the Auto market to keep apple sputtering along. Then I can envision some sort of push into the household automation market. After that I suppose Apple is doomed and will fade away, but until then I think they can still manage to go forward in their upward trajectory.
Probably because, thus far, no car manufacturer has been stupid enough to put a 'long press' interface in for steering wheel controls.
Except for the ones that have.
Might be a reason for that.
Yes. Your overestimate of the mental capacity required to hold down a button for a short time is hysterical and wrong.
Thats the thing about bigots. They are always too stupid to realise when they are wrong. There's always yet another angle by which they can view reality to separate their arbitrary good from their arbitrary bad. Even when there's no difference.
Sat-navs all have errors. All people are just as likely to follow the error directions they are given by the product they happen to be using. Any other conclusion is bone-headed fanboyism/haterism.
Disclaimer: Lifelong Android user, fully moved to iOS with purchase of iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and use rMBP as main computer.
Apple Maps continues to give inaccurate directions with implications ranging from incredible inconvenience to downright life threatening danger.
A lifelong Google Maps user, I bought an iPhone 5S on launch day. I switched to Apple Maps largely due to the tighter integration and full screen mode. I wanted to give it a fair shake. Let me share a few brief observations.
A large regional hospital in my home town closed down several years ago, and moved into a new building nearly ten miles away in a different city. The original facility was purchased by the city, and converted into a high school. Apple Maps continues to list the old location - now a high school - as the location of THE HOSPITAL, despite it having moved YEARS AGO. That is the kind of error that could quite possibly KILL SOMEONE.
I continue to receive weird route selections and inaccurate directions that would add miles and several minutes to my drive. Incorrect or inefficient exits. Favoring 55 MPH state routes full of small towns & numerous stop lights over interstate 80 running fully parallel a mile away with 70 MPH speed limit and traffic moving smoothly. Head scratching, bizarre route choices without the deep options available in Google Maps to correct it.
I think this is the problem - Google's army of of > 6,000 contractors endlessly driving & mapping the roads of America vs. Apple's flyover algorithmic mapping. http://www.businessinsider.com...
I still use Apple Maps, but largely only to keep track of distance driven/remaining and ETA on routes I'm already familiar with. It is, overall in my estimation, about as accurate as Waze - which is to say both products are damn far sight worse than Google Maps.
So have you actually taken the time to report these inaccuracies and errors to Apple -- using the not so hard to find Report A Problem button *right in the maps app* --or do you just vent your spleen on technology sites about how shitty Apple Maps are, complete with relevant examples?
If you can take this amount of time to document and bitch, surely you took the 10 seconds to tap the Report A Problem button? I can assure you that someone inside Apple does read those reports.
Did you know that gullible is not in the dictionary?
Sorry, I said it was a pet peeve. I realize it's not the end of the world.
I have a JVC car stereo with bluetooth and I have to reach over, press and hold the phone button on the radio unit for 2-3 (or more?) seconds before the JVC unit will beep, and then siri will beep.
I know it's minor to most people, but I do have to take my attention away from driving, and I would prefer a dedicated siri button (along with a separate dedicated phone answer button and a separate dedicated phone hangup button). It's the difference between "works for me" and "truly well designed".
It was called Android Market before. You're thinking of Amazon and they won, hence the Amazon Appstore.
No more the B&N suing Dalton for using the term 'Book Store"
I mean, realy.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
point and laughs... think women are easy to 'fix'
LOL
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Probably because, thus far, no car manufacturer has been stupid enough to put a 'long press' interface in for steering wheel controls.
Except for the ones that have.
Such as? Do we know of any in particular, or are we being hyperbolic for the sake of argument?
Might be a reason for that.
Yes. Your overestimate of the mental capacity required to hold down a button for a short time is hysterical and wrong.
Says you. I guess you know more than the researchers at Harvard and everywhere else in the links I provided. Or at least, you seem pretty confident that you do.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Thats the thing about bigots. They are always too stupid to realise when they are wrong. There's always yet another angle by which they can view reality to separate their arbitrary good from their arbitrary bad. Even when there's no difference.
That's the thing about blowhards - they're always so shoved up their own rectums and/or too busy being a cock to anyone who disagrees with them that they fail to see the forest for the trees.
Sat-navs all have errors. All people are just as likely to follow the error directions they are given by the product they happen to be using. Any other conclusion is bone-headed fanboyism/haterism.
OK, well, at least there's one thing we can agree on.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
CarPlay makes driving directions more intuitive by working with Maps to anticipate destinations based on recent trips via contacts, emails or texts
No. Please, no. Every gadget, app, of software that tries to anticipate anything has, from my experience with them, success rate of almost zero.
That includes Netflix with it's dumb suggestions.
Try it! Library of Babel
First off all, most of the people who hate Apple are right here on your favorite website.
Which site are you talking about, most of the people here are shameless Apple apologists.
Secondly, Volvo and Mercades aren't in the same class as Ferrari. Not by a long shot. Volvo and Mercedes produce relatively cheap cars like the Mercedes A and B clases, even the lower end C classes aren't that expensive and this makes up the lions share of the Mercedes sales.
When Apple announced they wanted to do this a year ago, they claimed to have all kinds of partners from Nissan-Renault and Honda to Lamborghini, notice that a lot of them have dropped off because the product is worse than their current offerings.
Apple wont succeed here because they are entering a market that has a lot of competition. Apple's got a history of releasing flawed products and telling the user it's their fault (I.E. you're holding it wrong), this will not fly with Mercedes and Ferrari customers one bit as well as trying to force everyone into their way of doing things. This worked with the Ipod because there weren't any serious competitors but this is not the case in car world.
Finally, automakers will reject this because they will be required to give too much control to Apple and they are too worried about losing their only identity. The world of 4 banger automatic buzzboxes, there is little to tell them apart. A Nissan Pulsar is interchangeable with a Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Mazda 3 (If you're less concerned about reliability you can get a Renault Megane, Pug 308 or Ford Focus... and if you want something shockingly unreliable a VW Golf or GM Cruze). the only thing that really differentiates a Corolla from a Civic is the interior, they are both highly reliable, relatively efficient and cheap small 4 cyl hatch/sedans, in the case of the GM Cruze, the only thing they have going for them is the horrifying MyLink system. Putting in the same entertainment system as everyone else is going to kill brand identity.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I, and at least one friend I am aware of, have reported this when it was discovered over a year ago. The hospital is still being displayed in the wrong location.
Apple got my money when I bought the phone. I don't think they care. Their cloud services are as laughably award as Microsoft's mobile hardware.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
If B&N had a trademark for the term, then yes, they would have a valid legal claim.
Reject this?? Have you used the total crap system Mercedes currently has? The nav system is the number one most complained about item for Mercedes. I love my Benz but the built in Nav is so horrid it's virtually unusable. MB knows this and has been looking for a way to get ahead of the technology for a long time now. They know that this will cause me upgrade my current Benz and it will push me over the edge to buying a second one for the wife.
And an opposite one here. I'll be upgrading my current Benz and adding a second.
Don't back down now! :)
Setting a radio station preset is a long-press.
Maybe we should make selecting a radio station long press (so you're REALLY sure).
We could even be safe and make you pull over to the side of the road to set a radio station (like some cars make you do to select GPS destinations)
(I am totally kidding about all this by the way)
Lots of things.
Apple decided to compete with Windows PCs by allowing Mac clones to be sold. But the clones were cheaper and had better specs so they kept hemorrhaging money even though the Mac compatible market share was actually increasing slighly.
MacOS Classic was utter trite. Imagine a Windows 3.1 style cooperative multitasking OS when even Microsoft had released Windows 95 and NT with preemptive muttitasking. The projects to develop alternatives like Copland consistently failed to materialize. This is why Apple had to get NeXT.
PowerPC took a long time to get developed. 486 DX2 was faster than 68k series. Then after the PPC 604 the Pentium Pro came shortly afterwards and blew its performance out of the water. Pentium Pro workstations running Windows NT basically killed the RISC workstation market as well.
Hardware projects like Pippin and Newton were commercial disasters.
Especially because there were 'app stores' before Apple's.
Yes and the iPhone was based on a Linksys product. No wait.
User satisfaction is not a quantitative metric. Its a bullshit metric which can be manipulated into giving you any result you wish to get.
Plus their sales are going down. As a percentage of total sales. They are growing slower than the market.
Microsoft also sells millions of products a year and we hate them too.
I do not maintain any side in this discussion. I am looking it from all angles.
Right, like BMW's sales are down as a percentage of total car sales. They are making more money than ever. You might have missed that memo.
sounds like waze, except the integration vs using speaker phone
www.RacquetUp.org - Helping Detroit Youth
If so, any problems can be fixed.
Microsoft also sells millions of products a year and we hate them too.
Microsoft doesn't get the love Apple does but most people don't actively hate them either. Only folks like those of us who hang out here on slashdot really tend to have a strongly negative opinion of Microsoft. I'm certainly not a fan but I have no illusions that my opinion of them is widely held either.
Such as? Do we know of any in particular, or are we being hyperbolic for the sake of argument?
Well, if I flick my indicator stalk it flashes the indicator lights three times then switches off. I have to hold it to the side for a while before it'll stay on. Similarly if I press the cruise control level, it turns on. If I hold the lever, it changes the set speed.
Not quite on the steering wheel, but analogous to your interaction type.
Holding a button rather than pressing it shouldn't be a major issue. It's also fairly pointless unless pressing that button has a different function, which may or may not be the case.
I want GPS in my car. If that means using my phone to drive the GPS, I can tolerate that, as long as it's easy and efficient to attach/remove the device and doesn't fuck over my battery life.
If my phone has to be made by Apple to get GPS in my car, I'm not getting GPS in that car. I'll buy a car that I can get GPS in.
If I have to buy a Garmin or TomTom and remove it from the windscreen every time I get out of the car (to prevent broken windows/theft) then that's not going to work either.
If the car offers integration to Apple devices, but lets me use factory fitted GPS or an android device instead, then hey, choice is good. But I understand completely that a car that supports Apple devices or you can't use the built-in screen is a big reason to not buy it.
2 things:
1 - the indicator stick anecdote doesn't really apply, but the one about the cruise control is a good analogue.
2 - increasing/decreasing the speed via the cruise controls is directly related to the act of piloting your automobile, and seems less likely to be as distracting as a button you have to hold to do non-driving-related activities, such as phone calls.
All in all, seems like the question would make a pretty good basis for study.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The pause is long enough that you wonder if they're trying to say that "what is important" is the data on the screen or what you're doing?
Heck, I'd like to think that DRIVING IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT and these touch screens are only taking your eyes off the road so you can pinpoint where on a screen you're going to touch. I dig technology and progress but driver controls are one thing that should be left in the analog world of dials, buttons, levers, etc.!
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
Or Blackberry. No wait.
Holding the cruise control level to change speed is more distracting than holding a button to activate voice commands - I have to visibly look at the speed that I'm setting.
Holding the cruise control level to change speed is more distracting than holding a button to activate voice commands - I have to visibly look at the speed that I'm setting.
Hmm, interesting; I wonder, which takes more brainpower away from the task of driving: holding down the CC button while looking at the speed for a few seconds, or holding down the "phone" button while you think about the upcoming call...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
It's a fair point. I don't use my telephone when I'm driving, hands-free or otherwise, because it would be too distracting.
Such as? Do we know of any in particular, or are we being hyperbolic for the sake of argument?
For example Mercedes uses a long press on the steering wheel buttons to change radio channel.
Says you. I guess you know more than the researchers at Harvard and everywhere else in the links I provided.
Not "says me". It was your claim that holding a button down lost a surprising amount of "road attention". I simply doubted it, and said I wouldn't take your word for it.
You tried to bluff through by listing several links, not a single one of which concerned holding a button down.
Therefore I still doubt your claim, and still don't trust your opinion.
That's the thing about blowhards - they're always so shoved up their own rectums and/or too busy being a cock to anyone who disagrees with them that they fail to see the forest for the trees.
You've lost it. In both meanings of the term.
It's a fair point. I don't use my telephone when I'm driving, hands-free or otherwise, because it would be too distracting.
I don't interact with mine while I drive, but since I normally start my trip by plugging the phone into the aux port and firing up Pandora, I can't really say that I "don't use it" while driving.
I do, however, find somewhere safe to pull off the road if I ever need to make or receive any sort of communication.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
That sounds like fanboy talk to me. Corporate executives, government employees, and any other high-powered types who are already tied deeply to Blackberry might not care to pay extra for a feature they'll never use. How many people does Google employ? I bet they wouldn't care much for iPhone integration, either.
You mean like netflix integration on my smarttv that I never use. Yes, it's there. I'm not going to riot over the fact that a product has features I may not use. I buy things for the features it has. Anything else is bonus.
Point being, just because you can't fathom that there might be a subset of the population who aren't madly in love with a certain company's products doesn't mean the aforementioned subset doesn't exist.
I already acknowledged that people don't like Apple. You seem not to acknowledge that overall, the general public likes Apple products.
For me, I wouldn't care if they put an iPlug hidden in the glovebox, but if using all the features of the $60,000 automobile I just bought means being locked into any proprietary ecosystem, I won't be spending my money with that car company.
First of all, not all cars that will have this feature is $60,000. That's just your irrational hate there as you don't seem to recognize that car manufacturers like Honda and Hyundai have cars for much less. Second of all your logic if faulty. If you get a car with a feature you don't use, you are not locked in. That's just hate something to hate on it.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Invention (in the sense of any independent creative work) is what a company does. Innovation is a judgment of that invention's significance, from a few years out, or the lack thereof.
Unless you're in marketing. In that case, innovation is what WE do (even when ripping off the competition). Copying is what the competition does (even if we have not done that thing yet).
-Dave Haynie
Yeah, that whole Sync thing is kind of funny. It was only a few months back that Google was showing off their Android for Cars tech, and a bunch of big names were apparently very interested. And one big reason cited was Ford. Ford had been working for years with Microsoft, and apparently, doing things the other guys just can't touch.
I'll admit being very skeptical. And since I'm in the market for a new car, I checked out Ford at the Philly auto show last month. I saw pretty much what I would have expected from Microsoft. .. nothing much. So I'm still thinking, maybe there's really something here, but you have to live with it to appreciate it.
And then, a couple of weeks ago, Ford announces they're dumping sync, while still selling all kinds of cars running sync, no replacement in the market, no real notion of what they do for 2015 models. And yet, somwhow, the world made sense again after that. And I'm pretty sure that, if car makers are looking to Google or Apple for help here, it's because they don't even really know what they want here, only that tech features are important. A recent study suggests Gen-Y buyers weigh the tech features really highly in their buying choice decisions. And these are not folks used to putting up with Microsoft quirks as much as we old farts.
The other question here: really, Apple? Cars? Apple sells more iThings in a good week or two than GM sells cars in a year. And they're showing this off as a premium feature, so that's 5-10% of cars from the fraction of automakers who want this option. Is that really big enough for Apple?
-Dave Haynie
But Apple isn't in the habit of releasing actively user-hostile shit like Windows 8 while being a convicted monopolist.
Sounds like impotent Hateboi rage to me.
As if you look sideways at new TV's with Hulu or Netflix integration, Hateboi.
As the other guy pointed out, all nat-nav systems have errors, Hateboi. Apple's only mistake was not pulling a Google and calling their product "beta" for oh, I don't know, half a decade or more. Then all sins are forgiven!
Except those are both Zombie Urban Legends. At the time Apple had 10 times the size of Bill's investment in liquid assets, so they weren't even close to even thinking about bankruptcy.