It was great to announce our partnership with HARMAN this week. Our ACCESS Twine™ for Car (Twine4Car) In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) solution has been integrated with the HARMAN Ignite Store to provide automotive OEMs with a global portfolio of car-specific video services.
The announcement is timely as a recent Strategy& (part of the PwC network) report forecasts that 49% of cars in Europe will be connected by 2025. This figure is slightly higher, at 52%, for the U.S. And more than two in three respondents are willing to pay for a complete set of connected services. Consumers are used to being connected in and out of the home and the car is the next step in this always-on lifestyle.
For OEMs there is a fantastic opportunity to create new services-based revenue streams around content. With the industry also moving towards cleaner energy and replacing engines with electric motors, OEMs need new differentiators to gain a competitive advantage. Content and connected services via an independent IVI system provide that differentiator.
Independence is crucial because, in order to capitalise, OEMs must control the user experience and user data. Twine4Car enables OEMs to own their user data in a branded interface. It is designed as a white-label software development kit (SDK), providing HARMAN with the flexibility to replicate their clients’ look-and-feel for the content service in their vehicles.
The HARMAN Ignite Store truly turns the vehicle into an extension of the consumer’s digital lifestyle. It allows drivers to subscribe and install third-party apps as well as OEM-developed services, such as vehicle health and “Concierge Mode.” It means we can now bring everyday applications that we have at home and on our phones into the car. And through Twine4Car, it’s bringing users closer to the content they love within the vehicle’s own interface.
Together, ACCESS Twine4Car and HARMAN Ignite Store provide the tools that OEMs need to win out in the data-driven connected world.
