Unbelievable! Microtransactions coming to the auto industry starting 2021 with BMW!

[DoubleDragon1987]

NO WAY.

BMW wants customers to pay a subscription fee to use features the car already has installed, like a heated steering wheel or adaptive cruise control

BMW wants customers to pay a subscription fee to use features the car already has installed, like a heated steering wheel or adaptive cruise control

BMW's new setup is similar to Tesla's, which famously offers over-the-air updates for customers long after purchase.

www.yahoo.com

In-Game Purchases Poison The Well

Video games will always manipulate us. Each challenge and scenario in a game has been carefully engineered to make us react a certain way. Most of the time, that’s what we sign up for. But the moment real money enters the equation, something changes.

kotaku.com

 

[Puonti]

I'm not going to read the article, but I do want to put this comment here because I noticed the words "similar to Tesla's" in the blurb:

If you receive additional features after the sale, asking to be paid for them or the service that delivers them is perfectly fine.

If there's something else going on here, then this is not commentary on those other things.

 

[throAU]

big fat NOPE

this is the sort of garbage that makes me not want any new car...

 

[DoubleDragon1987]

I'm not going to read the article, but I do want to put this comment here because I noticed the words "similar to Tesla's" in the blurb:

If you receive additional features after the sale, asking to be paid for them or the service that delivers them is perfectly fine.

If there's something else going on here, then this is not commentary on those other things.

BMW is a mainstream brand. Tesla is not. Why? Almost no one in NYC can have a Tesla because everyone lives in apartments and there is no place to charge them. Same with many dense cities. Anyone can and does have a BMW here. I see tons of them here at Coney Island. Once this concept goes mainstream, it is gonna become DLC for the auto industry. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple even does this with its own iOS in some fashion.

Microsoft already did this like a decade or so ago? with its Office Suite and I am not sure if Windows 10 or whatever they are up to now is also subscription based.

 

[I7guy]

I don't know why but Seinfeld popped into my head: "they can take a reservation, but they can't hold a reservation."

BMW: "they can install a feature, they won't let you use a feature"

 

[johannnn]

I'd be fine paying monthly for adaptive cruise control. That thing requires crazy amount of recurring work from the engineers. But paying monthly for heated seats? That's just LOL.

 

[Longkeg]

So none of those very high income Manhattanites living in secure, doorman buildings with parking garages can’t install a charging station for a Tesla? These are are exactly the people who would go the trouble of doing that just to separate themselves from you “dead common” Beamer drivers. Despite what you may have heard NYC is not the center of the universe.

 

[pdoherty]

Resale values will suffer. Someone buying it used knowing they’ll need to shell out subscription money (compared to prior models where the features were either present or not).

 

[quagmire]

In theory, I like it and don't like it. I like the idea of activating a feature post-purchase that I didn't opt for when buying the car. But I would want that to be a one time charge, not a subscription. I didn't opt for heated seats when buying the car, but 2 years later I want them? Ok I will pay the $500 to activate them as if I would if I bought the car new with the heated seats. But I won't pay a subscription for it because now I am paying more for the heated seats down the road once I have the feature on long enough to eclipse the original cost to the feature.

 

[ghanwani]

The innovation going on at BMW nowadays is mind-blowing.

 

[Falhófnir]

In theory, I like it and don't like it. I like the idea of activating a feature post-purchase that I didn't opt for when buying the car. But I would want that to be a one time charge, not a subscription. I didn't opt for heated seats when buying the car, but 2 years later I want them? Ok I will pay the $500 to activate them as if I would if I bought the car new with the heated seats. But I won't pay a subscription for it because now I am paying more for the heated seats down the road once I have the feature on long enough to eclipse the original cost to the feature.

Trouble is, if the hardware is there to be turned on by software, you've already paid for it when buying the car!

 

[throAU]

I'd be fine paying monthly for adaptive cruise control. That thing requires crazy amount of recurring work from the engineers. But paying monthly for heated seats? That's just LOL.

Nah, it doesn't.

Mercedes had it working in like... 2002-2004? Maybe earlier? On cars that were totally disconnected from the internet and never firmware updated.

Its such a shame because I'd love a new car like a Tesla which would result in me having a lower carbon footprint, etc. but I'm just not going to take the abuse from companies doing this sort of stuff because they've figured out how they can just screw the customer harder.

The hardware is already there in the car, doing nothing, holding it to ransom unless the user pays a subscription is basically extortion. The car company is doing zero additional work for enabling things like heated seats that are already installed. Unless it comes with a maintenance plan where repairs to them are carried out for free.

 

[dmccloud]

BMW is a mainstream brand. Tesla is not. Why? Almost no one in NYC can have a Tesla because everyone lives in apartments and there is no place to charge them. Same with many dense cities. Anyone can and does have a BMW here. I see tons of them here at Coney Island. Once this concept goes mainstream, it is gonna become DLC for the auto industry. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple even does this with its own iOS in some fashion.

Microsoft already did this like a decade or so ago? with its Office Suite and I am not sure if Windows 10 or whatever they are up to now is also subscription based.

Microsoft followed Apple's lead to a large extent and made the Windows 10 updates free. Microsoft also drops to major releases a year, so the Windows 10 of 2020 is significantly different from its initial release, just as Max OS 10.15 is significantly different from OS X 10.1. There was a program that let Windows 7/8 users upgrade to 10 for free, but that program ended in late 2019/early 2020.