An interesting shift in strategy by General Motors. Last week Mary Chan (GM President Global Connected Consumer) announced on the CTIA (The Wireless Association) in Las Vegas that GM will “no longer develop infotainment apps but instead rely on available apps via Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto”. While so far GM was investing in a dedicated AppShop.
Convenient for the customers who can stick to their own and familiar environment; and for the car maker who doesn’t have to bother about updating the infotainment software and the store. See also my earlier blog called “Friction between Life-Cycles”.
The flip-side is that OEM Software & Services are value creators and will bring most of the revenue for the car manufacturer. Letting the CE-giants in with their cloud services means also they will have access to valuable data.
Note: GM will maintain to develop in-house the more embedded software which requires deeper integration with the vehicle.
