Micro-transitions for cars? Actual, real world cars!

[6800e47e21d54JDoran]

This will sound like a very late April-fools' article, but it's really not...


Quote:

"BMW has sparked debate after offering an online subscription to turn on heated front seats in its cars in the UK for £15 per month.

A monthly heated steering wheel subscription costs £10.

Subscriptions have been available for features on BMW cars for some time in the UK, but the heated seat offer started this month.

The company says customers can enable all hardware features for a one-time payment if they prefer.

The features are available via BMW's ConnectedDrive online store and are activated remotely, with no need to visit a dealer.

The heated seat offer is available in the UK, but the subscriptions that are available vary by country."

Unquote.

Paying a recurring fee to use hardware that comes with the car anyway? Hopefully car customers will be smarter than video gamers, and actually boycott BMW to force BMW to end this, instead of (as video gamers do) just complaining about it whilst still throwing money at the company.



Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-62142208

and

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature

and

https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/13/outrage-over-bmws-decision-to-charge-15-a-month-for-heated-seats-16992099/

etc/

[6800e47e220c8sarge945]

This isn't really news. Companies like Tesla have been moving towards a subscription model for a long time.

Yet another reason to not buy a new car

[6800e47e2228cfox]

Just like the games industry with business models like paid DLC, the automotive industry is going to try to push this as the new normal in a combined effort. I predict that it's going to be tough to boycott soon.

Things will start to get interesting when some of the subscription-related hardware causes general problems although the owner never used or wanted said feature.

[6800e47e226fbZylonBane]

Micro-transitions for cars?

"Transitions"??

[6800e47e227fcfrobinaan]

excellent...but how far can we push it