The evolution of the car dashboard: It’s all some folks in radio want to talk about. Understandably, since such a large fraction of radio listening happens while driving. But isn’t it just the nature of disruption to change the conversation all at once? And that’s what happened today with the news that consumers wanting Android Auto […]
Remember when buying a new car meant more than buying an entertainment system that also happened to contain wheels? In other words, remember when you bought the car, not the entertainment system? No longer. Watch this TV spot for the new Kia Optima. It compares the entertainment system “in most mid-size sedans” to a Rubiks Cube. […]
Now I am as pro-technology as anyone you’ll find in the audio space, but the reason to be pro-technology is to be pro-consumer. Because any technology that doesn’t serve the interests and desires of consumers is a solution that, by definition, nobody wants. And the only thing worse than not being wanted is being UNwanted. So […]
In a preview of CES, The Hollywood Reporter cuts to the chase – the most fundamental reason why the technology of the car dashboard is bound to change no matter what the power players of the radio industry desire: Car buyers—particularly millennials—are no longer as susceptible to the [auto] industry’s traditional marketing tropes of styling, […]
From Tom Taylor Now: A site named GMAuthority says among the changes for the [Chevrolet] Traverse, “HD Radio [is] removed.” There’s more. For the 2015 Silverado truck, GMAuthority says “HD radio feature removed from all radios.” Same for the 2015 GMC Sierra truck, here. For the high-end Buick Enclave, the previous “Color Touch AM/FM/SiriusXM/HD Radio […]
There’s a tendency for some broadcasters to put too much faith in the idea that consumers will prefer traditional radio over the online variety because of scarce and expensive bandwidth. But the reality is that bandwidth is neither that scarce nor that expensive, when compared to the value derived from it. And one way to […]
Last week, Google announced Android Auto, which – like Apple’s CarPlay – aims to fully fulfill the promise of the so-called connected car. Watch this video to see an illustration of how the platform integrates music, both from Google Play and from third party apps like Pandora or iHeartRadio: So what does this mean for […]
Yesterday I wrote that some auto industry analysts believe radio needs to be easy to find and use on the new auto dashboard because ease of discovery and use will trump any discussion of how good or bad the actual content is. In other words, consumers are not likely to seek out great content they […]
This past week I had a conversation with someone knowledgeable in the auto technology space: “The dash is getting crowded and complicated,” she argued, “and the harder to find a radio station is the less apt folks will be to listen to it.” “But if the content is compelling enough, they will seek it out,” […]
What does the crystal ball predict about the future of the so-called “connected car” and radio’s place in it? That was the purpose of my conversation with Toby Trevarthen, VP Monetization for Aha by Harman, a key provider of platforms and apps to automakers and the “connected” car. Here are two of the key questions I discussed […]
