BMW will charge for CarPlay

I've contacted Toyota Canada and can't seem to get a definitive answer whether or not Toyota will charge for CarPlay. BMW is charging $80 per year after the first year. https://www.cultofmac.com/640578/bmw-carplay-annual-fee/

both Apple and CarPlay can go to hell. I'd also like to hereby formally slap Toyota and BMW for choosing the global 20% market for their target audience and completely ditching the 80% of Android market.

I keep bitching about that to my dealer as well. I hope that if enough dealers pass on the corporate that customers want Android Auto, they'll give it to us.

We get it free for 4 years I believe. After that we will be charged

I am hoping to solve the Android auto problem working with Bimmer Tech. Being at the car is driven by idrive I'm hoping they can work something out. I've sent them generic info from the unit as they requested so we will see.

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/item/53-bmw-android-auto-google-assistant

XtremeMaC said:

both Apple and CarPlay can go to hell. I'd also like to hereby formally slap Toyota and BMW for choosing the global 20% market for their target audience and completely ditching the 80% of Android market.

Click to expand...

Heh, it's not that simple. A large portion of Android devices are low end devices in foreign markets that probably don't matter to car sales (certainly not to BMW, or modern Toyotas capable of smartphone integration).

This has been beat to death on the BMW forums and all the data people have looked at suggest Android users are a minority on BMW. Even if it was 10X different for Toyota I suspect it's still biased to iPhone. It's definitely nowhere near that 80/20 split.

BrettS said:

We get it free for 4 years I believe. After that we will be charged

Click to expand...

I think that’s the Supra connect app service that is for 4 years.

I think that Toyota will slowly introduce Android compatibility. With the 2020 Lexus RX, they're introducing new things for the first time such as a touch panel (in addition to the wonky mouse pad thingy) and Android compatibility. I think they've realized that there's demand for it, but it'll take a while before these sort of things gets implemented across the board (if that's their plan). Also, the RX is the most popular (based off sales) mid-sized luxury SUV, so perhaps they're just trying to focus on only their best sellers and don't plan to roll it out elsewhere. I feel like if they've already moved in that direction and spent the R&D to make it happen, though, it will only be a matter of time before it starts to trickle down elsewhere within the company.

Supra Dupra said:

I think that Toyota will slowly introduce Android compatibility. With the 2020 Lexus RX, they're introducing new things for the first time such as a touch panel (in addition to the wonky mouse pad thingy) and Android compatibility. I think they've realized that there's demand for it, but it'll take a while before these sort of things gets implemented across the board (if that's their plan). Also, the RX is the most popular (based off sales) mid-sized luxury SUV, so perhaps they're just trying to focus on only their best sellers and don't plan to roll it out elsewhere. I feel like if they've already moved in that direction and spent the R&D to make it happen, though, it will only be a matter of time before it starts to trickle down elsewhere within the company.

Click to expand...

Supra will only get android if BMW gets it. the manual even references BMW and liability stuff regarding the infotainment system.

I hope we dont gotta pay, this is a toyota vehicle not a BMW

SpamSupra said:

I hope we dont gotta pay, this is a toyota vehicle not a BMW

Click to expand...

We cant deny BMW controls a lot of the logistics behind the scenes. Heck codes for PDI came from Germany. Even the manual mentions them.

jtsang25 said:

Supra will only get android if BMW gets it. the manual even references BMW and liability stuff regarding the infotainment system.

Click to expand...

For the Supra, yeah... my comment was geared more towards the general "Toyota" comments as the company as a whole finally seems to realize that there's demand in the United States for Android compatibility. The fact that they put it in the RX seems to indicate that they understand that the RX sells a lot better in the U.S. than elsewhere and they're trying to further grow those sales.

For example, in 2017, the RX was the most-purchased luxury SUV in the United States (with around 108,000 being sold - the next closest competitor was the Cadillac XT5 with only 68,000 sales that year); it was also Lexus's most-purchased car in the United States, with the runners up being the NX (with around 59,000 sales) followed by the ES (with around 51,000 sales). Meanwhile in Japan, the RX was only their 3rd best selling car (behind the LS and NX).

I think it's a good sign that they realized that if they want to further penetrate the U.S. market, they're going to need to try to provide an incentive to those who previously wouldn't consider a Lexus. Adding the touch screen (so that people don't have to mess with that mouse pad) and Android compatibility to a car that is more geared towards the North American market were steps in the right direction - I think they'll probably test it out, see how it's received, and then consider implementing it elsewhere based on the market's reception to these features. Unfortunately, that won't really help us Supra owners, but at least it isn't like Toyota as a whole isn't considering implementing Android compatibility into its cars.

Its mad that Android isn't supported!

I'm going to have to get an old iPhone and chuck a sim in it so I can use spotify etc.

this is probably my LARGEST gripe with this car. I have nothing Apple, and will never have anything Apple. Android OS is on more devices that iOS. and android is most of the cell market, which is why i don't understand why they would opt for apple.