CarPlay - is Apple giving up too much control?

Apple announced a renaming and demonstrations of their new in-car system, CarPlay, at the Geneva motor show this week.

I'll be honest, I'm a bit skeptical, for the first time in a long time when it comes to an Apple product. One of the reasons the iPhone was so successful was due to it's complete and utter isolated development by Apple, no interference by the cellular carriers. They designed and built the device completely to their own perceived wishes of customers. But as demonstrated by the fiasco that was the Motorola Rokr, Apple seems to be allowing car makers decide fundamental items such as the screen type (old style resistance screens seem to be common - even in the Ferrari!).

But I wonder if this will lead to something better in the long-run. The car makers have shown their hand with respect to the quality of device they are going to build (and before a product has even been released) so Apple will hopefully realise they potentially have another Rokr style device on their hands. Perhaps part of the discussion with Tesla, along with potential future liaisons about batteries, is about a better form of integration into their own devices. The rest of the Tesla vehicle certainly lives up to Apple standards....... Interesting times!

Neal McQuaid