Audi meets Android

[Wippa]

Google, Audi to announce in-car Android plans next week, says WSJ (http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/30/google-audi-to-announce-android-in-car/)


Is this the most unshocking and sensible move made to date by a car manufacturer? And why has intergration taken so long? All seems a natural and simple choice IMO.

[@mark]

Google, Audi to announce in-car Android plans next week, says WSJ (http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/30/google-audi-to-announce-android-in-car/)


Is this the most unshocking and sensible move made to date by a car manufacturer? And why has intergration taken so long? All seems a natural and simple choice IMO.

I am not so sure.

The risk is that you lock out a large chunk of phone owners by favouring one platform over another and many phone owners buying at this end of the market probably have their phone supplied to them by their company so don't have a choice.

Now on the assumption that they create a system that plays equally as well with IOS, Windows, Blackberry and Android then fine but I just can't see that happening.

So if I were buying a new car right now, my current handset is an iPhone. If I knew that Audi system "needed" an Android handset to get to all the features then I would simply not by an Audi. It really is as black and white as that.

BUT

For a long time, many car makers (including BMW) have used Windows Embedded to run their MMI style systems. Even TomTom is Windows underneath but with all these systems, one mobile device is not favoured over another so it can be done.

[Wippa]

Of course you're right on several points. My understanding of the article wasn't that the system would become an android phone rather have android functionality - key example I guess being maps for ease. However as androids domination of the market seems insatiable in recent years it seems to me to be a sensible choice. Android has (depending on where you read) around 40% of market share for phones with IOS around 20 and the others making up the numbers. That doesn't mean locking out 60% any more than having a phone without rsap means you can't get Bluetooth.
If you've got an A7 with an iPhone then you're already missing out on rsap integration anyway. I like phones but they're much easier to change than cars.

Ideal world would be windows or even Linux esque I guess that can talk to all things but hey, what do I know.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk