I don't think you understand how this technology works, so I will try to help here.
Briefly: some car manufacturers provide a car with a cellular connection. That is, the car can connect to the mobile network, just like your cell phone can.
So now, with cellular connection, your car can show you online maps, or play online music, or whatever services Apple CarPlay, or Google whatever, or proprietary solutions can provide. Just like your cell phone.
Now, I hope this is getting clearer. Is your cell phone usage free? No. You pay Verizon or whoever, a set, monthly fee for the usage. You probably also have a cap (like, 10G data/month). The important takeaway is: the service is not free. You pay for it, usually on some kind of a monthly plan.
Now back to the car. It needs the same cellular service that your cell phone needs. Given that your cell-phone usage is not free, it is kind of obvious that your car's cellular connection is not going to be free, either.
Makes sense?
Now.
So now, we know that there are things that are one-time cost (like, when you buy a car for cash), and then there are ongoing costs. For example, your car may need regular oil changes, checkups, and maybe a monthly fee for cellular, and another monthly fee for that Sirius thing.
Some carmakers may decide to sweeten the deal that is your car buying experience, by eating up the cost for any, or some of the above. Mind you, it still costs money to e.g. do the oil change on your car; it is not free; it is just that the manufacturer has decided to pay for it. The same logic applies to Sirius and CarPlay and OnRoute or whatever.
It is important to realize that, whether it is the oil change or Apple CarPlay, these are ongoing things that the car manufacturer cannot provide themselves. Oil change is not provided by the car manufacturer. Rather, that is provided by dealerships or other independent shops. Same with cellular, car manufacturers do not own cellular networks. Rather, they will hook up your car to whoever provides the cellular.
Bottom line. Whether we are talking about the regular oil change, or CarPlay, there is a cost to it, and someone (the car owner -- who else?) will have to pay for it.
You seem to be confusing carplay with in car cell service. Carplay uses the phone's data connection and the car is just a dumb terminal displaying content from the phone.
In car cell radio should obviously have a service fee since there is an actual service. Carplay is a static, one time car feature.
Ok, so you want to get a new BMW. If it is a lease, that may be $500 or $1000 or whatever per month. That's after downpayment of $many, will be more without downpayment or trade-in or whatever you got.
BMW throws in a cellular connection ("BMW assist" or whatever they call it) for $0, for the first X years. Not sure how many.
You can also get carplay, free for the first year (I think)
But then after that, carplay will be like $80/year. That is <$7/month. How does that even register, never mind make any difference?
And what is the narrative here, like "Oh, I was looking at BMW and Audi; I bought Audi because of the BMW's price-gouging $7/month fee!".
Did that ever happen? May be, but it just does not compute. Far as I can tell, if you are concerned over $7/month, you will not be buying a new BMW or Audi. It just does not add up.
I’m not quite sure I understand the reasoning of your argument.
I certainly agree that if someone is buying a bmw they can afford an extra $7/month. But I think that the question is value as well as a sense of fairness. Just because someone has money doesn’t mean they will spend it arbitrarily for things of little value.
This does happen all the time (eg, natural water), but there is certainly a large group of people who don’t purchase based on this philosophy. This may contribute to their wealth level making them capable of buying luxury vehicles. I think so.
Arguing that people have the money to pay, therefore should pay, without evaluating the value of the item is silly and will lead to increased poverty. As the market will make more and more expensive things without value until an equilibrium is reached where the buyers can not afford it.
Do you find that you win a lot of arguments with this condescending tone?
At hand is the question of whether a buyer might reject paying $80/year to BMW USA in order for one bit to remain in the 'on' position to enable CarPlay--not provision of cellular service or anything further.
My suggestion is that not everyone says "oh, the lease is $800 a month, another $80 a year is fine." $80 is still enough that being charged $80 for a pencil, or a chicken sandwich, or whatever, would be outrageous. And leaving a bit flipped is incalculably less work effort than preparing a chicken sandwich.
FWIW: I've purchased or leased various BMWs and Audis over the last decade, and have rejected every offered subscription plan for pushbutton concierge, car wifi hotspot, etc., and have regretted paying more than $0 (on a one-time basis) for BMW's older iOS integration product.
>> My suggestion is that not everyone says "oh, the lease is $800 a month, another $80 a year is fine." $80 is still enough that being charged $80 for a pencil, or a chicken sandwich, or whatever, would be outrageous. And leaving a bit flipped is incalculably less work effort than preparing a chicken sandwich.
You are comparing apples and oranges, montlhy payments and yearly payments. "$800 a month, another $80 a year". How about being honest, "$800/month, another $7/month"?
>> FWIW: I've purchased or leased various BMWs and Audis over the last decade, and have rejected every offered subscription plan for pushbutton concierge, car wifi hotspot, etc., and have regretted paying more than $0 (on a one-time basis) for BMW's older iOS integration product.
Who cares about what you did or did not? Looks like you are here to congratulate yourself. Why would that matter to anyone other than you?
Or maybe you were stretching to get the car that you cannot afford. Who cares about adding 1% or 2% of the monthly price for something that is useful? Among people that buy luxury cars (myself included) I've not seen that. You need winter tires? Could be several thousands. Nobody blinks at $7/mo. I don't think you have been honest here.
Briefly: some car manufacturers provide a car with a cellular connection. That is, the car can connect to the mobile network, just like your cell phone can.
So now, with cellular connection, your car can show you online maps, or play online music, or whatever services Apple CarPlay, or Google whatever, or proprietary solutions can provide. Just like your cell phone.
Now, I hope this is getting clearer. Is your cell phone usage free? No. You pay Verizon or whoever, a set, monthly fee for the usage. You probably also have a cap (like, 10G data/month). The important takeaway is: the service is not free. You pay for it, usually on some kind of a monthly plan.
Now back to the car. It needs the same cellular service that your cell phone needs. Given that your cell-phone usage is not free, it is kind of obvious that your car's cellular connection is not going to be free, either. Makes sense?
Now.
So now, we know that there are things that are one-time cost (like, when you buy a car for cash), and then there are ongoing costs. For example, your car may need regular oil changes, checkups, and maybe a monthly fee for cellular, and another monthly fee for that Sirius thing. Some carmakers may decide to sweeten the deal that is your car buying experience, by eating up the cost for any, or some of the above. Mind you, it still costs money to e.g. do the oil change on your car; it is not free; it is just that the manufacturer has decided to pay for it. The same logic applies to Sirius and CarPlay and OnRoute or whatever.
It is important to realize that, whether it is the oil change or Apple CarPlay, these are ongoing things that the car manufacturer cannot provide themselves. Oil change is not provided by the car manufacturer. Rather, that is provided by dealerships or other independent shops. Same with cellular, car manufacturers do not own cellular networks. Rather, they will hook up your car to whoever provides the cellular.
Bottom line. Whether we are talking about the regular oil change, or CarPlay, there is a cost to it, and someone (the car owner -- who else?) will have to pay for it.
Hope that helps.