The buzz last week was understandably about the International Consumer Electronics Show. At the same time that CES was up and running so too was the Consumer Telematics Show which we featured briefly here over the holiday break. The auto, like health, is beginning to percolate with opportunity for developers. I have a question for you on this subject so either skip to the end or stay with me.
CES was not just very car-focused, it was also very auto-app focused, according to the Washington Post:
The topic was so prominent, in fact, that hundreds of booths dedicated to computers and cars gave the industry event a Detroit Auto Show feeling.
and
Ford, for example, has a lineup of cars decked out with Internet dashboards that allow people to use Twitter and Facebook and stream Internet radio from behind the wheel. Alan Mulally, Ford’s chief executive, described the firm’s “in-car connectivity strategy” as core to its corporate turnaround. “These are the features that set us apart,” Mulally said in his keynote speech.
The Consumer Telematics Show, also in Las Vegas, was predominantly about autos. As Ford presented at both here is a view of the Ford telematics console.
The presentation also showed web browsing, navigation and Bluetooth connectivity:
And this comment sums up the mobile-to-car relationship seen at CES.
A clear trend seen last week at the CES trade show in Las Vegas is the convergence between cars and mobile phones. Several automakers and telematics providers unveiled solutions that are either bringing mobile applications into the dashboard or letting smartphone-based mobile apps remotely communicating with the car.
The images above are taken from Ford’s trucker application planning. 50% of people with trucks apparently work from the truck each day. A further show just after MWC, in Amsterdam, will explore the telematics scene further, this time in fleet management and trucks – speakers are coming from Scania, the EU, Renault, UPS, Shell and Symbian board member, Qualcomm.
As we saw with Chris Karr’s recent post areas outside of the mobile phone are beginning to emerge more strongly. Despite informed scepticism over apps stores, in addition to autos, telematics and apps projects are emerging in the construction equipment industry, cooperative mobility, fitness and health, the only area where, for example, Garmin’s revenues increased in its last reported quarter. Trucks and Television are also on the list.
Meanwhile off the radar auto-makers are exploring apps store like initiatives, with Hughes Telematics rumoured to be enabling growth in car apps in their next generation technology, a move that will lead to an in-car apps stores, according to TechDirt. Ford and Merecedes are both thought to be planning apps stores.
But third party apps have a different and perhaps as compelling an appeal:
Auto manufacturers are not the only industry targeting auto apps. Last month Nationwide Insurance introduced an iPhone app called Cartopia, designed to help consumers shop for new and used cars by providing information on safety, pricing, trade-in value, a monthly payment calculator and quotes on loans.
Here’s the question: how valuable a service is it to members and developers to read about developments in app and related market activity here on the blog?
