The Auto Industry May Mimic the 1980s PC Industry

An anonymous reader writes: An article at TechCrunch looks at some interesting parallels between the current automobile industry and the PC industry of the 1980s. IBM was dominant in 1985, employing four times as many people as its nearest competitor. But as soon as Windows was released, the platform became more important for most end users than the manufacturer. Over the next decade, IBM lost its throne. In 2015, we're on the cusp of a similar change: the computerized car. Automakers, though large and well-established, haven't put much effort into building the platform on which their cars run. Meanwhile, Google's Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are constantly improving. As soon as those hit a breakthrough point where it's more important for a customer to have the platform than the manufacturer's logo on the side, the industry is likely to resemble a replay of the PC industry in the 1980s.

Comments

More than a stretch

[Jawnn]

Cars are not PC's, but the author of TFA tries to argue that they are little more than a computing "platform". Automobiles are, of course, much more than that. Most of that "much more" is totally unrelated to computer-related functions or features, so to suggest that the auto industry will follow some parallel of the PC industry is just silly.

Re:Please let the big car companies die.

[Viol8]

Big companies can innovate too - look at IBM Research. Just because the results arn't on sale on Amazon or in your local high street doesn't mean they don't exist. In fact for some innovations ONLY a big company has the money to do the blue sky research. Big Pharma - whatever you make think of them - being the prime example.

mistaken parallels

[argStyopa]

The article dismisses the significant difference between the auto industry and the computer industry: if your computer is a piece of crap, it's just some lost $. (ie the only thing lost is some money and perhaps time). If your car is badly made, it can quite easily kill you and your family in a host of interesting ways.

This means that buyer conservatism is high, and willingness to 'experiment' is extremely low.

You'll notice in similar industries where computer equipment is of comparable mission-critical role, they are likewise extremely slow to adopt "the next big thing" and nothing like the 'retail' electronics marketplace.

So no, the automotive industry won't behave anything like the retail electronics market. Not at all.

tech industry looks like auto industry of 1910s

[peter303]

There were hundreds of automobile startups in the 1900s-1920s until standardization and consolidation. Electric and steam vehicles were competitors before internal combustion won out.

Re:You're dying off

[Ol Olsoc]

You're an idiot. People over 50 are too old to buy cars!? Look at who has the money, in the U.S. at least. "Old people" who have far more money as a demographic than younger people.

Ever see who is driving the "young guy Sports cars?

That's right - old guys like you and me.

When I was growing up, a Mustang was a cheapy sports car that an industrious kid in high school could own Fast forward to today, and they are expensive enough that few kids own one.

Much of the under 30 market doesn't own a car period. And the ones who actually buy new cars tend to go toward minimalist freakboxes like the Kia's. I think paying for a smartphone has taken the place of car payments.