BMW is one of the largest car manufacturers on the planet, and at the moment it seems to be the only one, if I'm not mistaken, asking for money for C. BMW sells cars that have CarPlay integrated into the navigation system and control of various functions of the car, but the system is offered as an option that costs over 300 euros.
In the US, BMW is asking $300 for CarPlay and an inductive charging system, and of course the decision to ask for money for something offered for free in other cars has been criticized by everyone. Faced with these criticisms, BMW decided to turn the payment for the optional CarPlay into an annual subscription that costs 80 dollars.
BMW says that this subscription will be free in the first year after the purchase of the car, and then it will be paid annually during a 3-4 year lease, after which it will probably become free. Audi and Mercedes have offered CarPlay as standard in the models that have compatible navigation systems, but those from BMW are "more idiosyncratic", so they will continue to ask for money for it.
Annual subscriptions for using CarPlay are currently only available in the US, but most likely they will be offered in other areas of the world, including Europe, maybe even Romania. Even Android Auto has not reached BMW yet, although Audi and Mercedes also offer this system as standard, so there are still some things that the German company has to solve.
"Unlike many automakers that offer Apple CarPlay in their new cars, BMW makes you pay for it on all of their models. The automaker next year will turn CarPlay into a subscription-based service rather than treating it as a one-time option."
To be completely honest, it seems stupid to me that software of this kind is sold, even on a subscription basis, especially since BMW is the only company that does this.
