iOS in the car

[Nevinspark 0]

Apple just announced iOS in the car and even demoed on a Chevy mylink radio like in the spark. They said 2014 this will be integrated. Do you think the 2013 sparks will get a update for this new user interface as it is a progression to apples eyes free stuff.

[Gossamer 50]

Steve Jobs just rolled over in his grave! You said "Apple" and "free" in the same sentence!

[Nevinspark 0]

All apple updates are free and technically apple is getting paid by the car manufacturers and they should make it free to us. I'm a long time apple user and a apple beta tester.

[Gossamer 50]

"All apple updates are free" Yeah, after you buy their overpriced products.

Microsoft gives free "updates" too - there's hundreds of them every year!

[Greg_E 211]

I would rather have Android on it.

[Gossamer 50]

That makes two of us!

[Nevinspark 0]

Yes Microsoft does give hundreds of free updates a year but 99.9 % are big fixes or useless stuff. I'm not here to play the iOS android windows debat as everyone prefers something different I'm just curios if Chevy will update older sparks or have it just be a 2015 model thing

[Gossamer 50]

No need to get defensive, I wasn't debating anything, just trying to be humorous (notice the smilies). For the record, I am typing this on my iPad, so I really don't have anything against Apple or its products. The dig was actually against Microsoft - who I used to beta test for (notice the wink). The reason I would prefer Android is that is what my main phone is (the other is an iPhone), and the fact that Android doesn't have the restrictions that iOS has. As far as your question, if they do decide to go with iOS, I don't see why they wouldn't offer an update to the existing radios since it should only be a software difference and not a hardware one, since the current radio already supports Siri usage.

[Nevinspark 0]

Didn't mean to get defensive it was late lol. What about how these mylink radios run on windows ce. Would it need to be completely rewritten code to get the iOS to work or would it need to be a hardware change like I think it might.

[Greg_E 211]

If you knew the specific hardware pieces (processor, etc.) you could probably flash just about any OS that would compile for that processor. Chances are that there is a Linux/Android version already built, but there was a deal with MS to use CE, now there is a deal with Apple to use iOS. They could probably do an update to existing radios, but I bet it will only be for the new cars because of licensing. The sad part is that none of them have wifi, and may not even be able to get data across the cellphone link so we will still be tied to the dealer for updates. Now that's bad because Apple isn't really an embedded OS company, there will be lots of updates. CE is a real embedded OS, there are fewer updates needed.

I'm still going to be looking for an Android powered head unit to replace my base model factory radio, I want the radio to actually do the work, not just RDP the desktop from my phone.