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BMW's Apple CarPlay Annual Fee is Next-level Gouging (cnet.com)
BMW announced this week that the company plans to shift Apple CarPlay infotainment support from a one-time fee to a subscription service. Tim Stevens, writing about the implications of the move for CNET: While GM and other manufacturers happily include Apple's CarPlay service for free even on their most attainable models, BMW and plenty of others have levied upgrade fees to enable CarPlay, or bundled the service inside pricey packages of widgets you may or may not want. That, sadly, is par for this margin-rich golf course, but when we learned this week that BMW would change from a single, up-front fee to an annual fee, in my mind that changed everything. Instead of a one-time, $300 fee, starting on 2019 models BMW will charge $80 annually for the privilege of accessing Apple's otherwise totally free CarPlay service. You do get the first year free, much like your friendly neighborhood dealer of another sort, but after that it's pay up or have your Lightning cable metaphorically snipped.
On the surface this is pretty offensive, and it seemed like something must be driving this. The official word from BMW is that this is a change that will save many (perhaps most) BMW owners money. Indeed, the vehicle segments where BMW plays are notorious for short-term leases, and those owning the car for only a few years will save money over that one-time $300. But still, the notion of paying annually for something that's free rubbed me the wrong way. And, based on the feedback we saw from the article, it rubbed a lot of you the wrong way, too.
On the surface this is pretty offensive, and it seemed like something must be driving this. The official word from BMW is that this is a change that will save many (perhaps most) BMW owners money. Indeed, the vehicle segments where BMW plays are notorious for short-term leases, and those owning the car for only a few years will save money over that one-time $300. But still, the notion of paying annually for something that's free rubbed me the wrong way. And, based on the feedback we saw from the article, it rubbed a lot of you the wrong way, too.
Carplay isn't a service. It's a pair of software programs, one runs in your car - the other on your phone. Bizarre. BMW must want their customers to switch to Android, maybe they have an investment in Google or one of the Android handset manufacturers.
You have to pay for BMW Assist and navigation updates too. If you don't like it don't buy the car. It's easy.
All new Audis have CarPlay support. My A4 has a CarPlay and supports Android Auto too.
Other luxury brands that also have it without a recurring fee:
https://www.apple.com/ios/carp...
Mercedes
Volvo
Alfa Romeo
Porsche
Lincoln
Cadillac
Bentley
Astin Martin
Just don't buy a BMW -- the other brands are generally better cars anyway. Audis are awesome.
- Vincit qui patitur.
I wonder if BMW drivers would use turn signals if they were Apple branded and cost more?
The issue I have is that I can buy a $30k Japanese car and have 100k miles of absolutely...zero...problems. So I should be able to buy a $60k German car and have the luxury features, with absolutely...zero...problems. Though that does not exist. I don't why why the hell they can't pull it off.
They says that for leases, the 'pay per year' method is cheaper, but let's boil that down.
On a three year least, with the 'pay per year' method, you'll pay $0 for your first year and $80 for each of your next two years. So $160 total.
If you leased the car with the one-time $300 fee, you don't pay $300. You pay Sales Price minus Residual. And the residual on some of these cars is up to ~60% of sales price. So lets say that the residual on a BMW is 58%, that means Car Play would have cost you $300* 0.42 = $126! Still cheaper! You'd have to have a residual less than 47% for the new method to be worth it.
You apparently need to go and sit in a Volvo. They are most definitely luxury cars, at least on a par with Audi and BMW, though not on a par with Porsche and Bentley.
Germans tend to over-engineer things and jump on all the latest tech, and Japanese tend to be very conservative and wait a while. So the Japanese cars usually aren't as cutting-edge as the German or even American cars.
The main problem with Japanese cars is that their infotainment tech is usually behind the others. Mazda and Toyota don't even have CarPlay or Android Auto available on their systems. The Germans have probably been doing infotainment longer than anyone else, so their systems are usually touted as the best.
Rents are the future of innovation.
Taste the Freedum!
Who is RTFM and when will he help me with Unix?
If Kia can put Apple Car Play into even their cheapest base model cars as a standard feature, why the hell does BMW need to charge money (either a one-off fee or a monthly fee) for the thing?