“Apple’s newly announced CarPlay, which is the rebranded version of iOS in the Car, a system for converting your vehicle’s in-car entertainment system into an iOS-powered dashboard fed content and brains by your phone, is a play that could massively expand the Apple mobile ecosystem – by turning cars into app-enabled iPhone accessories,” Darrell Etherington reports for TechCrunch.
“The CarPlay system was revealed today during the Geneva Motor Show, where partners Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo all announced that they’d begin shipping CarPlay-enabled vehicles to drivers this week. In 2014, that group will expand to include Honda, Hyundai and Jaguar, and beyond that it’ll ship on cars from BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Kia, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Open, Peugeot-Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota,” Etherington reports. “There are still some manufacturers missing from that list, including Fiat’s stateside brand of Chrysler and any car company from VW Group, but really that means Apple will soon have direct access to a platform expansion that could put its products and software front and center in potentially over 15 million new places annually – that’s how many new cars were sold globally last year.”
“The integration works through the iPhone’s lightning port, meaning that it’s only compatible with iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, and of course not ever new car sold will have CarPlay integration built-in (it’ll likely be an add-on option for many of these manufacturers, since it represents a chance to offer additional value and that’s generally the way upgrade packages work),” Etherington reports. “Still, it’s a big potential market, and while it does represent existing people who already own iPhone devices, it still has the power to impact iPhone sales via the network effect…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Fiat and VW Group would do well to WTFU.
Related articles:
Apple rolls out CarPlay giving drivers a smarter, safer and more fun way to use iPhone in the car – March 3, 2014
Apple to launch iOS in the Car with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo next week; more makers coming this year – February 28, 2014
Honda’s ‘HondaLink’ offers partial iPhone-vehicle integration ahead of Apple’s ‘iOS in the Car’ – January 24, 2014
Apple patent application reveals in-vehicle holistic ID for ‘iOS in the Car’ – December 12, 2013
ABI Research: Apple’s ‘iOS in the Car’ to be No. 1 in-vehicle system by 2018 – November 1, 2013
General Motors adds Apple’s Siri Eyes Free to more vehicles following ‘remarkable’ customer response – October 16, 2013
Hidden contacts revealed within Apple’s iOS in the Car – August 8, 2013
Automakers integrate Apple’s iOS in the Car to minimize driver distraction, increase customer satisfaction – July 30, 2013
Why Apple is planning aggressive 2014 launch for ‘iOS in the Car’ – July 26, 2013
Why Tim Cook described Apple’s iOS in the Car strategy as ‘very important’ – July 25, 2013
Apple has its eyes on automakers with ‘iOS in the Car’ – July 5, 2013
Ford plummets to 27th in J.D. Power vehicle quality rankings on Microsoft-developed ‘MyFord Touch’ woes – June 20, 2012
iOS in the Car rebranded as ‘CarPlay’ while Maps remains half-baked.
Nice.
Can you please give some specific examples of how Maps is still “half-baked”?
Example: the directions it wants to send me on: ok, granted, may be the shortest, but I know my city, would send me on a four hour tour of a 30 min trip. Maps seems to hate to give you directions using freeways and major highways.
This is an example of the lack of data for many cities in Maps.
Liar.
Apple maps gives 3 or 4 different routes for you to pick. This includes all possible ways to get from place A to place B. You pick the best one as you wish.
Liar liar pants on fire. Woahkahoahiah
You’re kidding?
1. Maps has about a fifth of the location data Google maps has. Unless you check both apps you’d not be aware of that.
While Apple’s Maps has blank empty areas Google has not only far more businesses listed but also shows the building outlines. In fact, the museum we went to on Sat. was (surprisingly) in the correct location in Apple Maps but listed it as a little icon. Google showed not just the building but had a button to select specific floors, with even the exhibit rooms shown. Same goes for our local Mall. Maps shows *one* store (the Apple Store naturally..) while Google shows all the floors and about 65 stores.
2. In Google maps main roads are wide, secondary routes are thinner but still more prominent than subdivisions, etc. In Apple Maps if you zoom out to get a good view of a route most roads become thin lines unless they’re divided, making back road navigation extremely difficult.
3. Google’s traffic data is *far* more accurate and easier to read.
4. Google maps shows expressway exit #s. Apple’s Maps STILL does not.
Is that specific enough?
Yes, that helps immensely, but I just want to make sure I understand your position.
You’re comparing Apple Maps (a product which his been around for a couple of years) to Google Maps (which is more than a decade old). Because there are some features you like in the older and more mature product, that are missing from the new product, the new product is “half-baked”. Is that about right?
No you don’t ecrab. You don’t want to “understand his position” you dishonest ejit. You want to cry “but but but where are the EXAMPLES”.
As if we go through our lives with a notebook writing up all the fuckups that we encounter to prove to sad fwits that something doesn’t work. Well, maybe you do.
I hope I’ve understood your position.
Oh, look! Yet another unregistered troll dropping in to bash on Apple and hurl baseless insults! What a surprise!
No, you didn’t understand my position, but then it’s no surprise since the list of things you don’t understand is obviously a long one.
He understood your position extremely well (although being rude didn’t really help him make his argument).
After over two years in development, and over year and a half in production, Apple Maps is still significantly inferior to Google Maps in most criteria that matter (accuracy and detail of map data, accuracy and detail of traffic data, accuracy and detail of mass transit data, accuracy and efficiency of directions). About the only significant advantage of Apple is its deep integration with iOS (big surprise there), the “fly-over” mode and its 3D representation, where it actually exists (which is small pockets of the world).
Some countries of the world are still massive black holes in Apple Maps, while Google Maps has every minor detail.
After two years of development, by one of the the most powerful and resourceful companies in the world, one would expect parity with the competitor, and yet…
With all said, it is fair to qualify such product as half-baked.
I don’t care how big Apple is, or what resources it has at its disposal. Nobody, including Apple can take a new product, and in two years develop it to feature parity with a 10-year-old mature product, especially when much of the “quality” of the product is the underlying data set.
I’d also like to point that before Google Maps was the mature, usable product it is today, it was also “public beta”, had issues, glaring bugs, incomplete data, etc. Even five years ago, the though of using Google Maps to navigate actual roads in real-time would have been crazy. The pace of innovation in mobile is incredible, and the size and complexity of developing a mapping platform that works worldwide in every corner of the globe is a staggering undertaking.
So, could Apple Maps be better? Of course. Are there features missing that should be there? Definitely. Both will happen, but it takes time. Apple Maps isn’t at all half-baked. It’s simply a much newer, less-developed product. As such the feature set and data quality aren’t as good, yet.
I’m not sure whether the right sentence is that my being rude “did not really help me” or if it “really did not help me” as the nuance conveys a slightly different message.
In any event, Predrag, you are probably right. But in to speak in measured tones would be caviare to the general.
Not to bash on apple ecrabb. To bash on you and your dishonesty wrapped up in patronising drivel.
Up the road from us is a grocery store that has been there for 25 years.
Apple Maps shows an empty blank patch of nothing whatever.
I noticed it was missing when I first started using Maps, and sent a report to Apple.
It’s still missing, as are the numerous business surrounding it.
Tell me, what is *my* problem here??
I think he answered your points rather clearly while having to fight off a moronic troll so why do you feel the need to simply repeat your points. Clearly as he says, a new product is not going to be as mature and feature complete than a product 5 tines older, in 2 years this may change and more rightfully judged. In the meantime as a user experience and in its technical base Apple maps is generally and in some aspects considerably superior, a lot depends on what you use it for. Apples main criticism is probably as on other technologies took too long starting its own solutions.
The excuse is becoming more and more lame quite rapidly. Six months would have been a reasonable period, but for a company with resources and power of Apple, it is really very difficult to justify taking two years and still nowhere near reaching parity with the leading competitor. We aren’t talking some five-man shop here; it is Apple, with $150B in its war chest. Maps have become a massive black eye, and even though five out of six iOS users re now on Apple Maps, there is a large number who are very much aware of this big feature and functionality gap.
We all love Apple here (that’s why we keep coming), but I have stopped defending Maps App last summer, when I realised that Apple won’t bother investing all that much into fixing and improving it. They don’t have to — most users won’t really know better. That is just not the way Apple would normally operate.
I understand why you are critical on this issue as Apple has neglected Serbia in its maps improvement project. I would feel the same in your shoes. I myself am keen on knowing the details of their data acquisition model and whether they are regionally failing because of politics or law, neglect of adequate resources, or fear. Spotty knowledge can indicate either conflict or indifference.
I have to agree with @WrongDirection. I am a real Apple fan but Google is ahead in maps. I can’t believe Apple allowed Google to buy Waze. As soon as Waze and Google maps get fully integrated, I have no idea how Apple will catch up. Maybe in a couple of years. It was a BIG mistake Apple made by not buying Waze.
1. I actually prefer the simple clean look of Apple maps. Displaying data I am not interested in is time-consuming to filter out. Maps are for directions from one place to another. Internal building navigation is for AFTER you arrive…..i.e. AFTER road map use. Why mix the two at the same time? Apple is coming out with a building navigation and it will be better than any of this crap in Google maps.
2. I am looking at maps on my phone. I zoom out and I see main highway in wider style and the minor roads in narrower style. What the heck are you talking about? Lying again. maybe?
3. No it is not.
4. Apple maps DO specify which exit to take. Just open your ears, it will say something like, “Take exit 37b….”, try to listen.
1. ‘Simple clean look’ must fanboy code. I call it ‘no data’. Both maps show more detail as you zoom in, (duh) but only Google’s actually HAS data to show.
2. I compared both maps side by side. You didn’t apparently. Pants on fire.
3. With millions of Waze users, Google kick Maps’ *ss consistently. Again, you don’t check both so how the Blankety Blank would you know?
4. I’m on the phone alot so using the audio directions is clunky. And that’s not the point.
Patronizing plonkers aside, my issue is that Apple *could* have used Maps to deliver a nice boot to Google’s groin, but didn’t. They failed to take on Adobe AND failed to take out M$ too.
There’s a pattern. And here it is:
Jobs was man enough. Cook is not.
Apple needs a man at the helm. Not some limp wrist.
Now that is simply and provably ridiculous. The problems you define in Apple maps true of imagined were engineered under SJ’s watch, Cook can only be criticised for not putting them right quick enough. Get the timeline right.
Homophobic jackass.
As soon as you raise the subject of Cook’s sexuality, even obliquely, you lose the internet, and show yourself as just another useless troll.
@Horseshack
Coming for a fucking moron like you I would consider anything you say totally fucked up and irrelevant, jerkoff.
Well, that’s not quite so. Google map look is just as clean and as detailed as necessary. You DON’T see internal building navigation when zoomed out enough to follow travel directions; they come into view when you zoom in enough, and that happens once you are there, or very close (and the distance between you and that building is fairly short). In other words, details pop up when they make sense.
As far as traffic data is considered, for New York city, I can confirm that it is much more detailed, accurate and up-to-date than Apple’s.
And no, Exit numbers are NOT marked on Apple maps. If I want to tell someone (who doesn’t have a smartphone) which exit to take when going somewhere, I have to open Google maps; in Apple maps, exit numbers aren’t there, and the only way to identify them would be to drive over there with Apple Maps navigation turned on and listen to the instructions from the phone. Clearly NOT an option.
Agreed……..
We can get all fanboy over this but facts are facts, and the one fact I resent is Cook saying “we’ll fix it” and then nothing happening. I now need TWO maps on my phone plus I suffer the added indignity of being mocked by fandroids with no way to reply.
Cook needs to go.
I would bet you get lost in Mt. View.
There’s two things about the UI that really annoys me about iOS Maps and still not addressed is the display of many road names, especially and inexplicably major ones.
1) After finding something, the nearby street names are sometimes off screen, and won’t appear without scrolling the pin right off the screen in turn. Zooming in or out sometimes doesn’t work either. It boggles the mind that this seems to affect some arterial roads. It’s also hard to report this issue to Apple because when filling out the reporter and it takes a snapshot of the map view, the street name is suddenly there.
2) when visiting Montreal, several major downtown roads are only labelled with their official roadway numbers. Problem is, *no one* calls them by this number. “Sherbrooke at Saint Laurent montreal” works fine in GMaps, but fails in AMaps.
That’s too bad you are still having issues with Maps. Works great for me … Mostly…
He may own an early iOS device that can no longer be updated. I have several iPads and the 1st generation that my grand daughter has can’t be upgraded past iOS 5.1.1. Maybe after WrongDirection can scrape together enough to upgrade to an iOS 7 iPhone, maybe he can get a new car or borrow it from his mommy.
I’m on an iPhone 5. iOS 7.0.6.
I’d just like to know where this alleged ‘thermonuclear’ war is?
I read so much about how Apple was supposed to bury Google, etc. but I’m still waiting…
Cook is a pussy, obviously, and more interested in paying for lawyers and fighting social causes than executing.
Final Cut X is a joke in creative pro circles, as is Aperture, which has been stuck on version 3 for four years now. iWork is also unusable for most businesses. No corporation would (or should) trust Apple with Office compatibility or feature consistency thanks to the last ‘update’. The iLife suite is either ignored (iPhoto) left to die and finally dropped (iWeb) or raped (iMovie).
For a company with $150b in the bank this is piss poor performance.
Trolling clearly pays though the sort of FUD you spew is hardly new original or bar a few lucky moments remotely a true reflection of reality. Suffice to say you need to learn more about Apple before you rant off in such delusinary fashion because if you had you would know test the thermo nuclear reference was from SJ specifically in relation to legal measures against Google the very thing you are claiming Cook is doing instead. D- for that factual error I’m afraid but surprised that wasn’t picked up in your daily FUD meetings with Google head office there, that’s Google Now for you.
Too bad you got brainwashed by anal ists.
wrongdirection is had baked… He he
@WrongDirection: Did you read the actual article or just the MDN post?? From the article:
“[This] means that Apple will have an opportunity to push its own maps over those of competitors like Google, and that’s a big deal for its efforts to improve the service.
All that additional data gathered will help improve the accuracy of maps and directions, and in turn that will mean better performance and reliability for consumers.”
That is BS. Do you know how many times I wasted my life sending stupid ‘Report a Problem’ info to Apple??
Many.
Do you know how many times that info led to a change in the map data?
NOT ONE.
I concur. No report I have made about Apple Maps has ever been addressed. I just started using Waze instead. Too bad Google bought it. 🙁 Apple screwed the pooch on this one.
I, like many others looking for a new car later this year, will start with one question. See the iPhone and iPad in my hand? Show me how the car you are selling connects to it? Not even a 3rd party option here? I may look but it is far down my list without easy, iOS compatibility. I will be back in 3 to 5 years if I think your ready for today’s buyers that only want to own the very best.
The article states Lightening will be the connector and only for the iPhone 5 series models.
I remember when we used to have more “fun” in a car, and it didn’t involve an iPhone at all. It didn’t even use much gas.
I’m old enough to remember when cars had big back seats; oh I loved the 64 Olds!
That ’64 had anything to do with anyone’s virginity?
I’m a Jeep guy. I hope this is available as an aftermarket product so I can retrofit. UConnect sucks big time.
SIRI and Maps are not perfect and still some work and updates…hope this deal pushes Apple to make it better and smarter and more adaptable. M$ blew their chance for the car. Sirius Satellite Radio has got to be hating this big time.
I agree. Just like the iPhone upset the smart phone industry, once again Apple will show how inept and kludgy the current completion is in comparison. Just like Blackberry was once dominate with smart phones, and Microsoft had the lead in tablets, UConnect and the others are destined for obscurity.
Of course, look for Samsung coming out with a copycat me too product to be announced very soon. I heard their copiers have been running full steam since the announcement.
Once again Apple leads the way and shows how to do things the right way.
Nice. Very nice Apple. Well done. Especially since I’m in the market for a new car.
I currently have phone and media connection through Bluetooth in my car that automatically links to my iPhone. I would love to have all of these features, however, so easily accessible.
The day Maps came out, I sent in a correction to the name of a local school. I checked back a few times over the course of months, now years, and, well, resubmitted my correction over five times. I just checked today. It hasn’t been corrected. WTF?
“Peugeot-Citroën”
“Citroën” sounds too much like “citron” which in French means “lemon” 🙂
The two would never ever be confused. Citroën has always been the most creative and innovative car maker of Europe, blazing many trails in the past (hydro-pneumatic suspension, swiveling headlights, etc).
Not to forget that the alternative meaning for “lemon” in English (a deffective new product) does not translate into French, and the word’s meaning is just the actual fruit (nothing questionable about it).
Citroën has been so innovative and successful in fact gist it’s become pretty much a non entity due to the mediocrity of its cars sadly, that’s what you get when you concentrate on gimmickry over true advances, the sort it was once but long ago famous for, no the modern car as we know it was not developed by them. Now they are nothing but a rebadged Peugeot playing off memories.
However MDN just in case no one else has mentioned it Ferrari is of course part of Fiat so clearly the latter is deeply aware of events with these developments.