Apple is reportedly launching iOS in the Car with Ferrari, Mercedes, Volvo

Back then we called this the halo effect. Strategy started with the iPod, that was the trojan horse. Once that's in your life the scope increases.

Hmm. I have a PC, while I've generally used it less since I got an mbp, I still use it and feel no inclination to move completely over to apple products.

What I'm excited about having an OS designed for touch and mobile in my car is the potential for apps to change the way I interact with my vehicle. I don't believe you are locked in to one OS or another at all, because apps are being designed for android, iOS, and others. Instagram, Facebook, and a vast majority of the apps I use are available on both platforms.

What WILL decide it for me will be the design and hardware involved. For example: I chose to move to apple products because I personally prefer is external design and UX. The touch interface is just more responsive for me, and my preference for that will influence my decisions. I hope automakers like Volvo translates this over properly, and with Apple working with them on it, I feel more confident that they will.

No problem if the car's API is accessible to Apple's Phone and to Android/Windows. Just get the Mercedes SL iOS app, sync via Low Energy Bluetooth or a dock and you're good to go. I think Apple is just the first one to make the connection. The car companies would be foolish to become part of an Apple/Android/Windows battle.

I agree that there is more tie-in than we’d al like, but given Apple users’ tendency to spend more, image of enjoying the finer things — especially good design, etc and notably with Android image of lagging when it comes to integration, and platform segmentation… I’m not convinced that it’s going to play against those manufacturers as much as you are saying. Then again, we are both biased, in opposite direction. However, with rumors Telsa is also joining the Apple side, it sounds like an uphill battle for Android. I can’t imagine Apple effectively tying them — it's too easy for them to launch a distinct collection with exactly the same models, different brands and an Android connexion. They already do for far less compelling reasons.

It’s actually a gambit like you find a lot in two-sided market approach (say, like that airline alliance ties with that credit card for miles).

I have the same problem. I've spent the last few years tied into the Microsoft ecosystem. Decided to move to the Mac as I got a hand me down MacBook Pro. About 9 months in now, I'm pretty stuck. With respect to liberating data from the ecosystem, it's pretty hard. It's also pretty hard to escape the interoperability problems. For example, I've become dependent on AirPlay, iCloud, iWork formats, iPads and associated apps as well as all the extra metadata I've meticulously pumped into iTunes that it doesn't update the files with. So has my wife and so have my children.

The cost to escape is quite large now.

If you include the cost of a vehicle in that, it's getting ridiculous. If it starts to force purchasing decisions then it's broken.

For me this was having to purchase an Apple TV to play media on because none of Apple's streaming stuff works with my (standardised!) Bravia EX DLNA stuff.

As a devops person though, I'm well exposed to different platforms (FreeBSD and Linux), so I'm slowly making a move in that direction and towards open standards.

I'd buy neither car these days and use a Bluetooth hands free (parrot etc). Screw the integration if it locks you into an ecosystem.

There are cars with Windows Automotive [1], it supports the bluetooth stack. Most smartphones work fine, you can play music, access the address book, doing phone calls, etc. A bit sad is that Android and iOS don't support all bluetooth features so some features like reading SMS are only available with older feature-phones from Nokia & co. [2] It also supports USB sticks/drives and plays mp3 files.

If iOS Car offers similar features there is no reason not to buy such cars.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_Automotive

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sync

> The lesson I've learned is that if one is not willing to fully adopt Apple's world, then one should avoid it altogether.

I use Android for tablet and phone and use MBPro as my main computer/laptop and a PC for gaming and testing.

So I think this is false. In the case of a car however, it probably should have some interoperability with non-ios devices I'd hope.

I agree that being split between Eco systems is crap, but I don't think the world at large notices or cares. Apples sale demonstrate this as iphone sales are massively greater than Mac sales. I know that a Mac will last several years, 6 or 7 for me, while a phone is typically 2-3 for me. Even with this, there must be a huge number of people with iOS devices but no Mac.

Yeah. Same here. I'm not buying a car with built-in systems based on iOS. Never going to happen.

It doesn't have to be Android to please me, but at least something reasonably open, which lets me work with open data, and regular formats.

Having to submit your entire digital existence to one company and the locked down gadgets they make is a big nono. A big enough nono to make me back out of a car-deal.

> My experience of living outside of the Apple ecosystem is that Apple stuff is all or nothing. One can't choose to have some Apple gear without fully embracing it. The advertised benefits require one to buy into everything. Things like iPods and Ubuntu aren't seamless

I think you are overrating those "advertised benefits".

Sure, there are some conveniences when you use multiple Apple devices, such as iMessage, iCloud tabs, iCloud passwords, iCloud Storage. But it's nothing that you can't get with third party apps like WhatsApp or 1Password, or even Google Chrome.

iCloud Storage depends on apps implementing it. They could use any other solution, such as Dropbox or Box.net, but then you would have another kind of lock-in.

And yes, iTunes doesn't work on Ubuntu, but it's not like you need iTunes for a fully operational phone, nor you need a Mac for iTunes. I don't think I synced my iPhone to Mac in a few years. And it's been a while since I last used Linux, so I don't know if those still work, but if you had to sync MP3 music you could use Amarok or GtkPod... or even Wine...

So, yes, it's not really seamless but it's not like you absolutely have to buy a Mac to have all the advantages of having an iDevice...

And yes, I get it, it isn't open, etc, but my the point is that you absolutely don't need to "buy into everything" to have all the conveniences. Sure, you have to do a bit of legwork, but that was the situation before iCloud, and is probably the situation with most other platforms.

> and an iPad when your phone is an Android just means that you buy everything twice, have different versions of things running sometimes with different data profiles.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but... I don't see how this is Apple's (or even Android's) fault? I mean, if you buy Xbox games they won't be playable on your Playstation. How data is stored or if can be exported depends on App makers, not on Apple...

Again, maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I still don't really see what the point was with this one, unless you're advocating a mobile OS monoculture...

I'm not trying to say that you're wrong or anything, I'm just giving my POV and trying to understand yours better, since you said you're living outside the Apple ecosystem...

And sorry for being defensive and posting this with a throwaway account, but it's because talking anything non-negative about Apple takes a huge toll on my Karma here, and I'm not even close to being a frequent poster.

My car is isn't going to last too much longer, so last year I went to the local auto show to see what things were like these days.

Basically every car had big touch screens. There were a few that were OK, but most were horrible. The interfaces were ugly, confusing, and non-responsive. It all felt slow.

Then there were the physical buttons. Some cars had them, but they were often horrendous as well. One of the higher end brands (Volvo?) put a 3x20 or 3x30 array of buttons in their cars. It looked like someone glued a big TV remote behind the dash.

I don't think the car's OS will be based on iOS, I imagine this is just better integration. Either way, the car industry needs this. The 'infotainment' systems in cars remind me a lot of 2005 era smartphones. They technically work, but the user experience is somewhere between 'ok' and 'horrid'.

Let Apple come in and stomp on everyone. That's a great way to jumpstart progress.

Besides, do you really think Apple would make 'Apple only' cars? They certainly push integration, but they tend to use open standards. They use normal USB keyboards and mice, bluetooth headsets, etc. An Android phone may not get the on-display integration and some of the other niceties, but even if Apple does design the full OS I'll give you $50 if it doesn't support standard Bluetooth audio and phone connections to any phone.

I'm hoping that there will be some kind of common standard that car manufacturers can adopt (wrt interacting with mobile devices). That way, users of both platforms can fully enjoy their vehicles.

From the article:

> it's still dependent on an iPad or iPhone to work.

I think this is a good thing. You can keep your car for 5 or 10 years and update some of its software every 2 years with a new phone.

Right now the touchscreen UI of a car is the first thing that looks dated.

Seems likely now that Elon gave a no thanks as an answer. I'm glad.

Well, there are some BMW iOS apps in the App store now: http://www.bmw.com/com/en/owners/bmw_apps/

Ford switching from Microsoft Sync to BalckBerry's QNX software.

The Volvo that's coming out this year runs Android. I know because I have a friend who drives a prerelease model. So it would seem like weird move from them.

Perhaps they're doing market segmentation with it?

I have to disagree with you here, specifically concerning the Script Your Car talk at 30C3. (In which the speaker had lots of experience in embedded linux security and no experience in car electronics, so he decided to hack the linux-driven hands-free set in his Volkswagen car. He was able to send messages via CAN bus that appeared on the info display on the dash board.)

First of all, the linux PC was firewalled with a CAN transceiver that dropped any malformed messages to account for bugs in the linux box. Secondly, all other CAN devices on that bus are designed to withstand any erroneous messages. Thirdly, this was just the infotainment bus. There are three separated busses in the car, the first of which has ABS, ESP and the motor controller talking to each other, the second has semi-important things like window lifters and probably AC on it while the third and least important is the infotainment one. The linux box was allowed to be configured so badly precisely because it couldn't harm anybody.

I sat next to a Volkswagen engineer in that talk, and he wasn't particularly impressed with what the guy on stage achieved on the car side of things, but rather with how much he was able to learn so quickly, and how easily he opened up that random Nokia box. Keep in mind he owned the box, not the car.

Volkswagen tests all of these busses and devices exhaustively. They do have to pass TÜV certification, but more to the point they don't want any expensive bugs to happen. You can be sure that IT security is taken very seriously on that front. (Also consider that once you are inside the car, you by and large own it already, so discussing further CAN bus attacks would be derailing. The attack vector here is through a firewalled device on an unimportant bus.)

Just as long as I don't have to get an ITunes account to operate my car, I guess it's OK.

Would you expect to see the same resolution on a secondary, externally connected screen? Obviously, this design has to be able to accommodate to a wide range of screen resolutions and formats.

No, but the geolocation in the phone will be used to send you after-the-fact speeding tickets.

It’s funny because in the mind of Finnish people, Nokia is still a brand of tires.