Have you ever dreamed up an app that might be great for car audio? If so, you may contact Transportation Technology Ventures, a new company formed to help create apps for the car and bring them to market.
Car apps, as we’ve reported, are the next big wave in car technology.
In 3 years you won’t be able to sell a car without app connections, said Jim Disanto, a tech entrepreneur who helped found Transportation Technology Ventures, which may be the first general app incubator and angel investment fund for car apps. (Ford, for example, has its own incubator-style system).
Disanto notes there are more than a billion cars in the world and the car is the next great area for connectivity. In 4 years, about 90 million cars on the road will be able to run apps.
Disanto would welcome an aftermarket entertainment app for the car, he told us. “I think there is certainly an opportunity. I haven’t figured out what that will be and no one’s showed me anything compelling or convincing, but I think the opportunity is there.”
One limitation for automotive entertainment apps is monetizing them. Many music apps like Pandora are available for free and the scale of app-ready cars on the road is still small when it comes to attracting advertising. In terms of paid apps, “As soon as you get to $2.99 and above, your audience drops off dramatically.”
Still if you have a good idea, Disanto is ready to hear it. He’s currently working with one app developer and is in discussions 3 or 4 others.
Transportation Technology Ventures based in Palo Alto, CA. provides app developers technical assistance with software development and it uses its connections in the auto industry to help bring a product to market. The group also helps raise seed money.
You can see the types of apps the group is targeting here: http://www.transportationtechnologyventures.com/blog/?p=261
Separately, Ford recently announced its AppLink is available on 1 million vehicles. These include the 2013 Fiesta and Mustang, in addition to the 2012 Fusion and Expedition, and F-150 and Super Duty. It will also be available on the 2013 C-MAX Hybrid models later in the year.
Source: CEoutlook via ReadWriteWeb
