In his latest “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that when Apple started working on revamped CarPlay software about four years ago, it saw the system as a way to beat back Android’s growing expansion into vehicles.
However, now that the tech giant has shelved plans for its own car, CarPlay has arguably taken on even more importance. Gurman says “it’s the company’s only hope of seriously cracking the automotive market.”
He says Apple hopes the new CarPlay can win over users and automakers with a slicker interface and greater customization. There is one big difference, though: The new CarPlay — which Apple purportedly hasn’t planned as a money maker — still runs on the iPhone and isn’t a new OS embedded in the vehicle. Gurman says that Apple has a few options to consider:
° To start, it could begin charging automakers to support CarPlay. Both Apple and the carmakers know there are diehards who won’t consider buying a vehicle if it doesn’t offer the feature.
° Apple could keep the old CarPlay around as a free feature and then sell the new one as an upgraded version. Let’s call it CarPlay+. It would be a similar strategy to the paid tiers of things like Apple TV and News.
° Apple could then drop the approach of making a customized design for each carmaker. Instead, it could provide a slew of templates in the operating system and let users customize the look of CarPlay on their own. The new CarPlay already offers some customization. Leaning further into that could let Apple save the time and trouble of making the bespoke versions.
“The clock is ticking. If Apple doesn’t quickly get more automakers to adopt the new CarPlay, it will certainly lose ground to Android. And if the company doesn’t start making money from the software, it will never turn the auto category into a lucrative market,” Gurman concludes. “It’s not like Apple has a fallback plan. The new CarPlay was once seen as the first step toward an eventual Apple vehicle. Now it’s all the company has left.”
This info from Gurman is from the free edition of “Power On”. If you like it, consider subscribing to Bloomberg.com—you’ll receive the newsletter earlier and get exclusive access to a Q&A section.
