Apple dives deeper into autos with software for car dashboard
CUPERTINO, Calif.听–听础辫辫濒别听滨苍肠听AAPL.O聽on Monday announced it would more deeply integrate its听蝉辞蹿迟飞补谤别听into the core driving systems of听肠补谤s, while the iPhone maker rolled out a slew of features for payments and business collaboration and a pair of new laptops.
The announcements at听础辫辫濒别‘s annual developer conference showed a company that was once an outsider working its way firmly into the mainstream of nearly every screen in day-to-day life.聽
The company whose late 1990s turnaround meant branding itself for rebels and troublemakers spent Monday talking up how to use iPads to collaborate on business presentations and how its听蝉辞蹿迟飞补谤别听will eventually help display fuel economy on听肠补谤聽dashboards. Notably absent were any hints of听础辫辫濒别‘s expected next big product, a mixed-reality headset that can overlay digital objects on a view of the real world. Hopeful fans got only a few tidbits of new augmented reality technology at a technical talk.
And聽础辫辫濒别听announced Apply Pay Later, a service that lets users make interest-蹿谤别别听installments. The business, which will work over the MasterCard 滨苍肠听MA.N聽network wherever聽础辫辫濒别听Pay is accepted, puts聽础辫辫濒别听in direction competition with payment providers like Affirm Holdings 滨苍肠听AFRM.O聽and PayPal Holdings 滨苍肠听PYPL.O.
But mostly聽础辫辫濒别听doubled down on existing products. A MacBook Air laptop was redesigned around a new M2 silicon processor, which it says is 35% faster than the previous M1 chip. The new laptop will be 2.7 pounds (1.2 kg) and have a 1080p high-definition camera to provide better images on video calls. The MacBook Air will start at $1,199,聽础辫辫濒别听announced at its WWDC 2022 conference.
The M2 chip will also power the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which will start at $1,299 and be available next month. Both chips will use a second generation of 5-nanometer chip manufacturing technology.聽础辫辫濒别听did not say who would make the chip, but likely manufacturers include longtime聽础辫辫濒别听partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co聽2330.TW, which is struggling with delays of newer technology.
“They have to do volume” with the new laptops, said Bob O’Donnell of TECHnalysis Research. “That’s the safe choice,” he said of the 5-nanometer chips.
But聽础辫辫濒别听did break with its tradition of not tipping its hand about future technology when it showed off a new听肠补谤聽诲补蝉丑产辞补谤诲听that it said would be able to display data from major instruments such as speed, fuel levels and gas mileage.聽础辫辫濒别听said it was in talks with automakers such as Ford Motor Co聽F.N, Nissan Motor Co聽7201.T, Mercedes-Benz聽MBGn.DE聽and Honda Motor Corp聽7267.T. Vehicles with the听蝉辞蹿迟飞补谤别听will not be announced until late next year.
The听蝉辞蹿迟飞补谤别听connects more deeply into core driving systems than prior versions that were limited to the vehicle’s infotainment displays for playing music and showing maps. While听础辫辫濒别‘s听肠补谤听蝉辞蹿迟飞补谤别听has been in vehicles since 2014 is currently available in more than 600 models – even including a few motorcycles – it is largely separate from the vehicle’s own operating systems. Vehicles owners must leave the system for even basic functions like adjusting a听肠补谤‘s climate controls, a shortcoming the updated system is designed to address.
Polestar, the premium electric vehicle maker owned by China’s Geely聽GEELY.UL聽and Volvo听颁补谤s, is installing the current version of聽础辫辫濒别听CarPlay into its Polestar 2听肠补谤s through an over-the-air update later this month, Polestar spokesman JP Canton said. Which Polestar听肠补谤s will get the newer version聽础辫辫濒别听announced on Monday are under discussion and no further information was available, he said.
A spokeswoman for Ford, which announced a听蝉辞蹿迟飞补谤别听deal with Alphabet’s聽GOOGL.O聽Google last year, declined to comment on听础辫辫濒别‘s announcement. Automakers remain wary of allowing the tech giants unfettered access to the data generated by connected听肠补谤s, or to allow them to displace the automakers’ brands with their own in聽诲补蝉丑产辞补谤诲听displays.
Apple‘s iPad also received a revamp to make it easier for users to juggle multiple applications and displays and to collaborate on business-centric documents such as presentations. The company also previewed an app called Freeform, which will act as a virtual whiteboard that multiple users can tap to share ideas during video meetings over听础辫辫濒别‘s FaceTime service. The productivity features put聽础辫辫濒别听in more direct competition with Microsoft聽MSFT.O, whose Surface tablet computers are popular among business users.
础辫辫濒别听also added an edit button to iMessage for sent messages, beating Twitter聽TWTR.N聽to a long-requested feature.
The tech giant is also adding a tool called “Safety Check” to turn off access to sensitive information for people in abusive situations.
础辫辫濒别听introduced a new technology called Passkeys to replace passwords on websites.聽础辫辫濒别听said Passkeys are safer than traditional passwords because Passkeys are never stored on a web server. The company said it is working to enable the use of Passkeys with non-础辫辫濒别听devices.
础辫辫濒别听shares closed up less than 1%, similar to their level at the start of the presentation. – Reuters
