HARMAN announced, under its Infinity brand, a software upgrade for OEM car audio. It will allow car companies to offer customers a branded audio app, that upgrades the car’s base trim audio system to a Premium level system, it said.
Users plug their phone into the car infotainment system and then a branded audio app pops up to add more bass or to improve the time alignment and phase.
The app can also suggest some settings based on user preferences.
The app, again, would be deployed by a car maker who could charge for it as an branded audio upgrade to the car’s original system. It works with vehicles that use an Android based infotainment system (not Android Auto, but a system built on the Android platform).
“It improves the imaging in the car… and the overall performance,” said Chris Ludwig, Vice President, HARMAN EPIC Experience Team.
“For the first time, an existing unbranded base car audio system can be instantly upgraded to a high-quality HARMAN branded audio experience,” said HARMAN.
“Branded audio in the overall satisfaction of vehicle ownership is very high. People appreciate great sound. The challenge is to deploy it to the masses in an effective way,” added Ludwig.
The app also allows seat-specific tuning and personalized settings for multiple users.
No announcement was made on which car companies are interested in deploying the app at this time.
What a joke. Hopefully the consumers revolt against this kind of subscription based predation. The ability is there, but you need to pay for an app to ‘unlock’ it? Get out of here with that. It’s obvious cash grab and sets them up for making money past the original sale. I hope we don’t go down the road of ‘everything is subscription based’ any further. Vote with your wallet and don’t support this stupid stuff.
It would just be nice if they would pair these OEM “branded” processors and amplifiers with something other than the absolute cheapest speakers made, in these cars. Wait, I guess that defeats the purpose of me selling speaker upgrades for $150-$700 installed, for quality aftermarket components that will blow away ANY speaker offering from the OEMs, even on the cheapest base radio, or most expensive “premium” system they sell.
Interesting idea. Next thing you know, we’ll be doing subscription based, in-app purchase branded audio upgrades. Hmmmm…
I think BMW went down that road a couple years ago, and was planning on extending the “app pay for features” to things like heated seats, and Carplay/AA, and it got shot down by consumers pretty quick. You are right though, they will all try again, because, you know, they aren’t making enough profit on the $90,000 Yukon you just bought, that was only $60,000 4 years ago…