Shane Cole
iPhone owners searching for a way to make use of Apple's new CarPlay infotainment offering without replacing their current vehicle may be in for a long wait, as the system doesn't appear to be headed into aftermarket car stereos anytime soon.
CarPlay — which will initially be available in new vehicles from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo — seems to have resonated with consumers, who have clamored for aftermarket options since its unveiling earlier this month. Those calls will likely go unheeded, however, as representatives from two top-selling brands shot down reports that aftermarket CarPlay support was on the way.
Kenwood marketing manager Scott Caswell told AppleInsider that "Apple CarPlay won't be in any of our 2014 product," before noting that many current devices already offer a subset of CarPlay features like Siri support and A/V playback. Caswell suggested that Apple may be reserving CarPlay as an OEM option for automakers, a market segmentation strategy that could make some sense.
Such a strategy might allow marques such as Ford to tout CarPlay's deeper integration as an incentive to buy or lease a new vehicle, for instance, versus purchasing an aftermarket stereo system to upgrade an older model.
Meanwhile, Pioneer appeared to distance itself from recent rumors that it was working on CarPlay support following a statement from a customer service representative.
"The story was not an official statement by Pioneer and was taken out of context," Pioneer corporate communications executive Jaed Arzadon said via e-mail. Arzadon declined to provide further context.
At press time, representatives from competing brands including Alpine, JVC, Audiovox, and Sony had not yet responded to requests for comment. It seems unlikely that any "Made for iPhone"-style strategy for CarPlay would not include the participation of Kenwood and Pioneer, however, so it appears that the only way for consumers to get their hands on CarPlay in the forseeable future is to visit a local Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, or Volvo dealer.
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27 Comments
Wouldn't you be much better off just getting a mount for an iPad connected by BT to your car's audio?
I will say I'm very disappointed if this is true... These manufacturers would have had my money.
like the ipad idea, except that it would be stolen instantly from the car unless u carried it everywhere with u
I hope it's not a question of waiting for a replacement car stereo compatible with CarPlay. I
would think the approach would be for someone to someone to come up with a QNX software package that you can load into your existing car's CPU-hard drive computer module (after wiping the car manufacturer's current crapware) and run CarPlay over top. Plus you'll need a hardware fix to get the lightning connection integrated. For older cars without a computer module already built in, installation of an after market CPU-hard drive module should be doable. With the many cars on the road in NA and elsewhere (250-million plus in the U.S., 22-milllion plus in Canada, 240 million or so in China, and so on) the financial rewards should be compelling.
Wouldn't you be much better off just getting a mount for an iPad connected by BT to your car's audio?
There are probably some benefits to using a factory head unit with deeper integration with other technology in the manufacturer's vehicle.
First: better antennae for satellite, cellular, and GPS reception. Second might be deeper integration with other systems like climate control, maybe programmable seat controls, rear window backup cameras, etc. Third: perhaps just having an avenue to work with manufacturers on future functionality, like some sort of collision avoidance, self-driving system.
Those are just a handful of quick ideas that rolled off the top of my head why working directly with the auto manufacturer would be preferable to pressing aftermarket companies to adopt the technology.