The battle for user data
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, at the time of the rapid rise of the internet and mobile networks, telco companies - internet service providers and mobile network operators – experienced an important shift. Their infrastructure was still crucial but they also did not add significant value beyond providing fast and reliable but basic connectivity for users to access the internet and apps.
These telco players also had to invest more in the infrastructure because usage was booming, without receiving much return from that. On top of that, some of their prized services, like traditional voice and SMS revenue streams were disrupted by the newcomers. And even worse, they no longer had access to valuable user data. They were therefore unable to develop new business models fit for the age of information or monetize any data. They were still essential. But they were also invisible and had very little ground on which to innovate.
Our CEO Patrick Vanbrabandt sees that very same phenomenon surfacing in the automotive industry today. You may recall a recent post he wrote about how many car companies have the ambition to become both hardware AND software companies. Some keep the software development inhouse, while others outsource it to players like Bosch, Aptiv or Samsung. Though some have successfully completed this transition, other are still struggling with the speed, agility and the mindset that are so typical of successful software players.
But apart from that specific challenge, car brands are also at risk of a very similar problem that the telcos struggled with before them.
How? Well, an increased amount of dashboards are taken over by Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. When these were first introduced, car brands were very eager to integrate them, in order to improve the CX in their vehicles. Back then, the functionalities were very basic, mostly focused on music streaming and GPS. But as these functionalities have now been expanding, car brands are noticing that their access to user data is decreasing. While that of Google and Apple is growing.
CarPlay, for instance, allows the iPhone to access a car’s real-time system, from climate control, fuel and battery charge levels to radio controls, instrument cluster data, and more. If this keeps going, car brands risk losing out massively on data monetization revenue and, just as bad, on intelligence that is much needed to improve their hardware and services. It’s not really an option for them to ban these types of services, because they are what their customers want. Although, to be honest, some brands, like Tesla and Rivian, seem to be resisting the trend too.
Our CEO Patrick Vanbrabandt sees that very same phenomenon surfacing in the automotive industry today. You may recall a recent post he wrote about how many car companies have the ambition to become both hardware AND software companies. Some keep the software development inhouse, while others outsource it to players like Bosch, Aptiv or Samsung. Though some have successfully completed this transition, other are still struggling with the speed, agility and the mindset that are so typical of successful software players.
But apart from that specific challenge, car brands are also at risk of a very similar problem that the telcos struggled with before them.
How? Well, an increased amount of dashboards are taken over by Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. When these were first introduced, car brands were very eager to integrate them, in order to improve the CX in their vehicles. Back then, the functionalities were very basic, mostly focused on music streaming and GPS. But as these functionalities have now been expanding, car brands are noticing that their access to user data is decreasing. While that of Google and Apple is growing.
CarPlay, for instance, allows the iPhone to access a car’s real-time system, from climate control, fuel and battery charge levels to radio controls, instrument cluster data, and more. If this keeps going, car brands risk losing out massively on data monetization revenue and, just as bad, on intelligence that is much needed to improve their hardware and services. It’s not really an option for them to ban these types of services, because they are what their customers want. Although, to be honest, some brands, like Tesla and Rivian, seem to be resisting the trend too.
