Recap: Luxury carmaker BMW drew fairly a little bit of criticism earlier this 12 months when it confirmed its plans to charge new prospects an $80 annual premium to acquire access to Apple’s “CarPlay” software program.
Given the excessive value tags luxurious BMW automobiles include, the entire scenario was laughable, to say the least. As we famous in our preliminary protection, the types of people who find themselves going to purchase a high-end BMW car in all probability will not miss the additional $80 a 12 months, but it surely was nonetheless seen as a distasteful enterprise tactic by the general public.
Previously, BMW charged a single $300 price for CarPlay however pivoted to the annual subscription mannequin in a possible try to convey in additional constant earnings. We ought to be aware, nevertheless, that the primary 12 months of CarPlay utilization was free underneath this new cost system, so it wasn’t fully with out advantage.
Still, it appears BMW has taken shopper suggestions into consideration now. The firm is backtracking on its decision to charge prospects an annual subscription, and can now provide CarPlay for free — as long as your car has the most recent model of BMW’s ConnectedDrive infotainment software program put in.
If your car would not help the software program, you may want to pay the unique $300 sum for lifetime CarPlay access. One may argue that charging for CarPlay in any respect is a bit odd, particularly since many competing carmakers (luxurious or in any other case) provide it or Android Auto for free by default, however that is a subject for one other day.
