Blog Posts by Cenk Hepaktan

The other day, I came across this news article:

First thing that came to my mind after reading the article was whether we were researching this feature in our price and specification database or not. You see we collect over 800 data points like this regarding vehicles globally. And it is my job as the product strategist to make sure we collect the right specifications data. The definition of "right" is that the researched data is useful for the consumer or the vehicle product/pricing analyst. Furthermore, I also need to make sure the specifications we collect are not just for this year or next, but will still be valuable in five years.

That brings me to my point about the "slowdown feature" mentioned in the article: all these nice little features that are currently being monopolized by telematics systems, will be replaced by applications in smart phones. If you look at a telematics system, it is a combination of GPS, cell phone, and the ability to communicate with the vehicle computer. The first two are readily available on smart phones today. The only missing piece is a data-port where an attached smart phone can connect to the vehicle computer. When an iPhone can link to a car's computer, there will be plenty of application developers out there who will be happy to design and develop interesting applications. They will do it better, faster and cheaper.

This obviously will have huge consequences for OnStar et al. But it will also represent some challenges for our price and specification database: it is one thing to collect vehicles specifications when they are hardware-based (e.g. Xenon lights = Available ), but it is another thing when you deal with software-based features of a vehicle. Since software downloads will be different for each vehicle owner, all we can really report will be whether "access to vehicle computer" is available or not.

Anyway, that is my job; your job is to decide which applications to buy on iTunes for $0.99. For fellow Michiganders, I recommend the "remote iSeatWarmer" and "Remote AC starter".

Posted by Cenk Hepaktan, Global Product Strategist, Polk (11.03.2009)