spijun

Impossible

It is not true that the same hardware

For the American market is different central unit MMI system




Vagcom

You need "only" ODIS E, and more adequate files. SGO and. FRF for MMI and SVM. Relevant security codes for access and...
Of course, the big risk the flasher unit

Redd

Jose, the hardware for T-Mobile and AT&T is different in the US. While both use GSM protocols, they use different frequency pairs for 3G, 4G, and 4G LTE, and the US version of these is also somewhat different from the global versions. It is very much a proprietary equipment market here.

T-Mobile and AT&T equipment can operate on both networks, but only at 2G networks. Anything faster than "EDGE" equipment becomes incompatible between the two carriers, or becomes a question of which equipment is deployed in what locale and what is being updated or phased out.

It is apparently simple for the hardware makers to actually make cellular radios that support both carriers in all modes--but that is very rare. The cellular carriers here strongly discourage the production or sales of equipment that can work with more than one carrier.

josedebardi

My company manufacturers mobile network equipment so I know well the differences. It's just a software lock keeping it to a tmobile sim and no rSAP... As you say, any other sim would be able to work at 2g speeds on other gsm networks if you could break the lock.

Q5 TDI

"unless there are more applications available for the one versus the other. "
And that.... is exactly my point. While consumers don't DIRECTLY interact with the OS, they sure do when it comes to installing apps on top of it. They better know what OS they've purchased or they'll have a difficult time using, connecting to, and adding to, what they have.

Nothing will change the direction the industry is headed, we'll continue to see alliances like this, it's just one more thing to consider when making a vehicle purchase.

An Apple car? I don't see anyone buying an Apple car purely it being based on being an Apple product. Apple is successful selling because they have slick, easy to use, intuitive products, I doubt they can bring that kind of synergy to automobiles.

No intention to stray this far from the original topic, but the benefit of Apple's proprietary stranglehold on their products also means they work without issues. Buy a Windows PC and install a third party video card in it that doesn't work, and Microsoft blames the vendor and the vendor blames Microsoft, while the consumer suffers.

For clarity sake, I'm quite happy with the MMI set up in my Q, it's much better than my previous nav interface.

snagitseven

Even if true, 2G would be unacceptably slow for most operations of Audi Connect. It's already slow enough on 3G as it is.

Redd

Jose, if it is just a software lock, what we call a "carrier lock" or "SIM lock" in the US, that still doesn't make a big difference. Even if the lock was broken, even T-Mobile says that their 2G service here is not sufficient for most data needs.

I'm not sure how US 2G compares to EU 2G, but bear in mind that what we call 3G, 4G, 4G LTE, all of these are much slower than their comparable ITU-defined services.

It was only a year ago that the ITU gave special dispensation to the US carriers to keep on using blatantly fraudulent "G" ratings in order to prevent a massive US government lawsuit against all of our carriers. Of course, the ITU swears the timing was just co-incidental, but either way...when it comes to cellular services, options, and speeds, the US still aspires to be a third-world nation.

Redd

"In reality it does not really matter what operating system is being used in the vehicle, unless there are more applications available for the one versus the other. "

Actually, it can make a big difference. Smartphone programmers love the iOS, because pretty much any application can run on any version of it as new versions and new hardware are released. That's because of the way Apple provides for legacy issues and hardware standards.

Compare that to Android, where programmers often say that every damn phone and every damn OS "upgrade" break everything because there are no enforced standards. Or to Windows, where Microsoft dropped 8-bit application support in the 64-bit version, which they then quietly made standard. But somehow, it you want to bother running the XP emulator, the old code can and will still run. Proving that the new OS can run the old code, someone just changed their mind and shut it out of the new product.

Of course iOS isn't perfect, you may remember the outcry when Apple said it would only run ONE application at time, very much unlike Windows or Linux (better known via Android).

Then there are inherent security and upgrade issues...which all of them have as well.

josedebardi

I am also well aware of the EU 3G+ being marketed as 4G in US etc etc - one of my clients specialises in making money from suing the big phone companies!

I live in the sticks in the UK and basically just get GPRS or occasionally EDGE, which is between 4kpbs and 15kpbs (and on top of that Vodafone have ***** up the 2G service on my local cell so it barely works - its like 1kbps at best!) - as most Audi Connect services is just a simple destination lookup it works fine even at these speeds, the Google Earth data which is the only data hog actually cache's very well, so spending a few mins in 3G is enough for 50 square miles odd of maps - Ive never had it run out of maps on me on any journey in 8 months.

I'm pretty sure if you went to the effort of getting it unlocked and to allow rSAP it would work fine on 2G only. But by the sounds of it getting it unlocked is just not worth it.

gredi67

Perhaps Audi has their eyes on a much larger potential market: China.

Since Android based products sell in higher volumes there than ios, would it not make sense for them to try to appeal more to those customers than to others that would probably offer much smaller customer bases? If it were up to me, I would lean that direction.

Redd

Volume isn't the same as profit.

iOS (iPhone) owners come heavily for the over-$100,000 personal income groups, while Android owners have far less income, which also means far less disposable income.

Android might be right for VW customers, but with Audi being pitched as a luxury car, to the high-income percentiles....that's the iPhone audience.

Ages ago there was an article in the Harvard Business Review about prices and profits, and you basically have to sell something way over 100x more volume to make up for a 10% drop in retail price.

So while the numbers can be argued, the principal is that Android buyers have way less income, they aren't the target market, and Audi would need to sell way more cars than they could dream of, in order to make Android a selling point for them.

Funny thing, there was also a feature article in the Wall Street Journal last week about "new car buyers and car tech" and basically they said Gen Y is neither impressed nor interested by what's being sold out there now. And anyone older, cares even less.

I wonder, when the "driverless cars" finally come to market, how long it will take Exxon to figure out they can have your car fill itself up--at their nearest station--while you're peacefully asleep. And, what they're going to charge, or discount, if you join that club.

Free car wash with every fill-up if you let them do it automagically?