Android Auto Thursday

[1shah]

AA is next in line, I guess. We've been waiting for 2 years - almost there...

 

[Haggy]

Although I have no skin in the game, I’m wondering why AA is so much more difficult to implement than CarPlay. Or maybe Lucid just had it as a much lower priority due to iPhones being dominant in the US?

They are dominant since the market share is above 50%. That's a far cry from expecting a smartphone owner to have an iPhone.

 

[pjdcorp]

AA is next in line, I guess. We've been waiting for 2 years - almost there...

Any day now, any day........

 

[joec]

They are dominant since the market share is above 50%. That's a far cry from expecting a smartphone owner to have an iPhone.

We've discussed this many times. But there's a big difference between market share overall in the US and marketshare amongst Lucid buyers. Only Lucid knows how many of their buyers are iPhone users, but given preference in higher income brackets, it's safe to assume Lucid owners are much higher than the 50% or so overall.

Still, I don't think this is the main factor behind the delay of Android Auto. WIth most things Lucid-software related, it comes down to having a small team and a ton of things to do. We can argue with their choice of priorities, but they do need to make those choices.

 

[Volund]

Although I have no skin in the game, I’m wondering why AA is so much more difficult to implement than CarPlay. Or maybe Lucid just had it as a much lower priority due to iPhones being dominant in the US?

I bit the bullet and bought that Garmin hookup thing. It's been awesome so far and like that I can watch Netflix or YouTube while I charge

 

[Haggy]

We've discussed this many times. But there's a big difference between market share overall in the US and market share amongst Lucid buyers. Only Lucid knows how many of their buyers are iPhone users, but given preference in higher income brackets, it's safe to assume Lucid owners are much higher than the 50% or so overall.

I don't follow. A high end Samsung is $1900 and a high end Apple phone is $1200. I would think that Lucid buyers would be able to afford either. There are cheaper Android phones, and a person might choose a cheap Android phone to save money, but a person can't save money getting a high end Android phone because a high end Apple phone is cheaper.

 

[DeaneG]

I don't follow. A high end Samsung is $1900 and a high end Apple phone is $1200. I would think that Lucid buyers would be able to afford either. There are cheaper Android phones, and a person might choose a cheap Android phone to save money, but a person can't save money getting a high end Android phone because a high end Apple phone is cheaper.

Or $1800 for Google's folding phone. But for some reason a large majority of Lucid owners chose an iPhone, not at all in line with overall USA phone OS market share. I wonder what the situation will be in Europe, where iOS' market share is less than 1/3.

 

[Haggy]

Or $1800 for Google's folding phone. But for some reason a large majority of Lucid owners chose an iPhone, not at all in line with overall USA phone OS market share. I wonder what the situation will be in Europe, where iOS' market share is less than 1/3.

It's not clear to me either. It used to be that Apple products were for the "it just works", "it's so simple", proponents who liked a closed ecosystem, while Microsoft, Android and others were for the more technical who wanted to pick and choose. I'm fine with people using whatever they want, and I've used Macs and PCs, but I'm not the type to carry multiple phones. I don't really want to say that one is better than the other since it comes down to preference, but given the close split in the US, and the predominance of Android elsewhere, I'd expect strong support for both.

 

[joec]

Sure, there are $1800 Android phones. Those are sold to fewer than 5 percent of the Android market. The reason the market is 50/50 in the US is because Verizon and AT&T give away the cheaper Android phones for free.

iPhone average selling price: $1,000
Android phone average selling price $286

To be clear, I’ve always felt Lucid needs to support both platforms, as it would be silly to lose a customer over which phone they like.

But given Lucid’s lean team and need to not burn cash, it becomes a matter of priorities. And I wouldn’t argue with their choice of going with iOS first, with the understanding that Android would definitely come sometime after. The after is just taking longer than anyone expected.

This is extremely common with new startups building apps as well. You go where the people who spend the most money go first.

 

[Haggy]

Sure, there are $1800 Android phones. Those are sold to fewer than 5 percent of the Android market. The reason the market is 50/50 in the US is because Verizon and AT&T give away the cheaper Android phones for free.

iPhone average selling price: $1,000
Android phone average selling price $286

To be clear, I’ve always felt Lucid needs to support both platforms, as it would be silly to lose a customer over which phone they like.

But given Lucid’s lean team and need to not burn cash, it becomes a matter of priorities. And I wouldn’t argue with their choice of going with iOS first, with the understanding that Android would definitely come sometime after. The after is just taking longer than anyone expected.

This is extremely common with new startups building apps as well. You go where the people who spend the most money go first.

Average selling price is irrelevant. What's relevant is that Lucid buyers more likely have high end phones, and iPhones aren't cheaper than Android in that arena. Some people in my family have iPhones. Some have Android phones. And it has nothing to do with affordability.

I don't think that a lot of people will hold off on getting the car just because it lacks Android Auto (although it might have gone up now that Alexa is gone, and getting to Google is more necessary) but no company wants to lose even a few percent of sales when it could make the difference between making a profit and not making a profit at some point. I also don't see how Lucid can cut down on the cash burn a great deal by slowing down Android Auto development. I suppose they could give the task to one person and tell him to work for as long as it takes. It won't decrease total man hours but will spread it out over time.

I think it more likely comes down to the effort involved. I haven't tried to implement either, but my understanding is that Carplay is more stable in general. Android Auto has to deal with a much larger more disparate set of smartphones, with varying capability, more things to go wrong, and more third party app integration, while Carplay users are using devices from a single manufacturer, and are more likely to be using everything from mapping apps to music apps from the same company.

 

[joec]

Average selling price is irrelevant. What's relevant is that Lucid buyers more likely have high end phones, and iPhones aren't cheaper than Android in that arena. Some people in my family have iPhones. Some have Android phones. And it has nothing to do with affordability.

I don't think that a lot of people will hold off on getting the car just because it lacks Android Auto (although it might have gone up now that Alexa is gone, and getting to Google is more necessary) but no company wants to lose even a few percent of sales when it could make the difference between making a profit and not making a profit at some point. I also don't see how Lucid can cut down on the cash burn a great deal by slowing down Android Auto development. I suppose they could give the task to one person and tell him to work for as long as it takes. It won't decrease total man hours but will spread it out over time.

I think it more likely comes down to the effort involved. I haven't tried to implement either, but my understanding is that Carplay is more stable in general. Android Auto has to deal with a much larger more disparate set of smartphones, with varying capability, more things to go wrong, and more third party app integration, while Carplay users are using devices from a single manufacturer, and are more likely to be using everything from mapping apps to music apps from the same company.

My point is there are orders of magnitude more iPhone users who paid $1000 for their phone than Android users who did the same. We're talking a handful of customers vs millions.

I wouldn't call that irrelevant. Again, Lucid shouldn't turn down anyone, but I guarantee they've spent more money developing Android Auto than they've lost from potential customers who refused to buy the car due to lack of Android Auto.

 

[Halodde]

My point is there are orders of magnitude more iPhone users who paid $1000 for their phone than Android users who did the same. We're talking a handful of customers vs millions.

I wouldn't call that irrelevant. Again, Lucid shouldn't turn down anyone, but I guarantee they've spent more money developing Android Auto than they've lost from potential customers who refused to buy the car due to lack of Android Auto.

I'm not arguing either side of this. But I am genuinely curious. Where are you getting your information about android vs iPhone and their affluence?

 

[Haggy]

My point is there are orders of magnitude more iPhone users who paid $1000 for their phone than Android users who did the same. We're talking a handful of customers vs millions.

I wouldn't call that irrelevant. Again, Lucid shouldn't turn down anyone, but I guarantee they've spent more money developing Android Auto than they've lost from potential customers who refused to buy the car due to lack of Android Auto.

True, and they've probably lost a lot more sales due to Dream Drive lagging what some people expect. I know somebody with an early reservation who never bought one because of that. He happens to be an Android user too, not that it affected his buying decision.

 

[joec]

I'm not arguing either side of this. But I am genuinely curious. Where are you getting your information about android vs iPhone and their affluence?

Just google "iPhone average selling price" and "Android phone average selling price". Google's handy new AI will be happy to spit out the numbers for you.

 

[AirDoll]

Hey friends! Don’t you know it’s “Complain about losing Alexa Monday/Tuesday” not “Android Auto Thursday”, wait your turn

 

[ec256]

Happy Android Auto Thursday!!!!!

Just remember that "Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour.” — Ovid

 

[Halodde]

Happy Android Auto Thursday!!!!!

Just remember that "Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour.” — Ovid

LOL but who does the appointing??

 

[Amster]

I bit the bullet and bought that Garmin hookup thing. It's been awesome so far and like that I can watch Netflix or YouTube while I charge

This won't be needed when Lucid finally gets Android Auto in the car, but there's actually really good things about having the Carlinkit for AA in there. It's a totally separate system than the car's computers. So if the car starts acting totally wonky, you have a backup. Yesterday in the middle of driving all sound went out. Nothing worked, no music source, navigation sound, calls., nada. Air logo reset wouldn't work either. After the car off/on, I got sound back, but the nav button wouldn't work. This morning, I had no ability to see or change Sirius channels, but after another reset that worked. So with all this randomness, the only thing that is stable is plugging in the Carlinkit, using that for music and nav and calls.

 

[Volund]

This won't be needed when Lucid finally gets Android Auto in the car, but there's actually really good things about having the Carlinkit for AA in there. It's a totally separate system than the car's computers. So if the car starts acting totally wonky, you have a backup. Yesterday in the middle of driving all sound went out. Nothing worked, no music source, navigation sound, calls., nada. Air logo reset wouldn't work either. After the car off/on, I got sound back, but the nav button wouldn't work. This morning, I had no ability to see or change Sirius channels, but after another reset that worked. So with all this randomness, the only thing that is stable is plugging in the Carlinkit, using that for music and nav and calls.

My only issue with carlinkit is that for some reason it won't connect many times, and I have to force exit android auto, clear cash, and turn off and on Bluetooth after 30 seconds.

 

[ec256]

Happy Android Auto Thursday!!!!!

Just remember that “Wisdom is patience waiting for the right moment.” - Jack Hyles