This article is absolutely how I've come to feel about cars in the past 12-24 months. If a car doesn't have both CarPlay and Android Auto, I just won't get it[1]. It's like the top feature I care about after number of doors and the engine.
[1] - And there's no way I am paying extra to use it, sorry BMW.
That's exactly the conclusion I've come to as well. My current car has CarPlay and there's no way I'll go back. And trying to charge me a monthly fee to use it is just insulting.
Same. My previous car had CarPlay and was totaled after about 10 months when someone hit me on the freeway. When I shopped around to replace it, I didn't even consider any car without CarPlay.
You're totally right, and it's <1% of the car, but perception is everything. BMW doing it the DIVX way[1] for a feature that's included on a Ford Focus rubs me the wrong way badly.
Cars buying decisions are becoming more and more about UX and entertainment experience rather than HP and engine specs and even driving experience. It is scary for them to cede control of UI and UX to Apple and Google.
Auto OEMs have can't beat Apple and Google as far as the head-unit is concerned. They should accept this and find better ways of differentiating their overall experience.
This article is absolutely how I've come to feel about cars in the past 12-24 months. If a car doesn't have both CarPlay and Android Auto, I just won't get it[1]. It's like the top feature I care about after number of doors and the engine.
[1] - And there's no way I am paying extra to use it, sorry BMW.