Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple Prevented Volkswagen From Exhibiting Wireless CarPlay at CES
Apple has blocked German car maker Volkswagen from showcasing wireless CarPlay connectivity at CES in Las Vegas this year, according to a report from Car and Driver. Apple introduced the ability to connect an iPhone wirelessly to CarPlay in iOS 9, but there has yet to be a commercial release for an infotainment system that supports the function.
In lieu of its inability to show off wireless CarPlay features, Volkswagen used its CES booth to demonstrate a new project that connects a smartphone to a car's infotainment system and mirrors its functions and controls. The car maker used an open-sourced standard called MirrorLink, unavailable on iPhones, to show off the technology, which would let users stream content from a smartphone and onto the in-car system. Volkswagen was said to "envision" the feature working in tandem with a wireless charging system to keep a phone topped off.
CarPlay news has been flowing out of CES this year, with companies like Kenwood, JVC, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and others announcing incoming support for Apple's in-car system. There are still a few opting out of the service, however, including Toyota, which decided to go with SmartDeviceLink over CarPlay and Android Auto earlier in the week.
“We wanted to demonstrate wireless CarPlay and the owner of CarPlay technology didn’t allow us to,” Volkmar Tannerberger, head of electrical and electronic development at Volkswagen, told Car and Driver.The current CarPlay setup requires users to connect an iPhone to a vehicle via USB port, and many have seen the wireless feature as a natural evolution of the in-car system. Although Tannerberger didn't divulge the specifics behind Apple's stonewalling, it is likely the Cupertino company wanted more control over all of the elements going into the public debut of the wireless feature.
In lieu of its inability to show off wireless CarPlay features, Volkswagen used its CES booth to demonstrate a new project that connects a smartphone to a car's infotainment system and mirrors its functions and controls. The car maker used an open-sourced standard called MirrorLink, unavailable on iPhones, to show off the technology, which would let users stream content from a smartphone and onto the in-car system. Volkswagen was said to "envision" the feature working in tandem with a wireless charging system to keep a phone topped off.
CarPlay news has been flowing out of CES this year, with companies like Kenwood, JVC, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and others announcing incoming support for Apple's in-car system. There are still a few opting out of the service, however, including Toyota, which decided to go with SmartDeviceLink over CarPlay and Android Auto earlier in the week.
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46 months ago
Apple doesn't want anyone stealing their thunder because they will probably give a demo of it at WWDC in June.
46 months ago
Why make wireless CarPlay part of iOS 9 if it can't be demonstrated by auto manufacturers?
46 months ago
That's why I don't want CarPlay in my car. Another walled garden. I tried CarPlay in my car and it is slow and laggy, ended up not using it ever again.
46 months ago
Are any of the current wired CarPlay systems supposed to be upgradable to wireless CarPlay with future software updates? Or is a hardware change necessary to enable this?
Maybe Apple wants iOS 10 at WWDC to have a wireless theme. Wireless headphones, wireless charging, wireless CarPlay. Wonder how the invitation will hint at this?? :-)
Maybe Apple wants iOS 10 at WWDC to have a wireless theme. Wireless headphones, wireless charging, wireless CarPlay. Wonder how the invitation will hint at this?? :-)
46 months ago
Toyota as the only holdout for Carplay? Toyota making lots of serious mistakes these days. Hydrogen cars are their big focus and its a lost cause. Battery electric is where its at and they're ignoring that area. It takes enormous energy to compress and transport hydrogen. Its a horribly inefficient, complex and expensive fuel to use rather than use batteries to store electricity for which there's already infrastructure in everyone's home.
46 months ago
Really! I'm still bemused that carplay was EVER wired? I mean why do we need wires for this stuff when we can backup video, pictures, app data, messages, emails, contacts, music, streaming, etc etc but hey connect to a car for simple phone functions and you need to tether it! what????
46 months ago
Really! I'm still bemused that carplay was EVER wired? I mean why do we need wires for this stuff when we can backup video, pictures, app data, messages, emails, contacts, music, streaming, etc etc but hey connect to a car for simple phone functions and you need to tether it! what????
I agree, but the problem is Bluetooth sucks. It's always been really flakey when it comes to connectivity and it doesn't have a high bandwidth for data either. I have 3 Bluetooth speakers at home (by 3 different manufacturers) and just trying to get them to switch back and forth between my wife's iPhone and mine is maddening.Someone *cough*Apple*cough* really needs to come up with a modern Bluetooth replacement that is high-bandwidth, easy to connect/pair, easy to switch connections between multiple devices, and reliably holds a connection once paired.
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