iOS in the Car to be in 50% of infotainment systems by 2018

Apple has been moving in the automotive industry at a clipped rate, having, for example, just recently launched iTunes Radio in-vehicle via an exclusive with Nissan. ABI Research has published a report showing that this growth within the market is expected to increase at a substantial rate in the coming years, with Apple's iOS in the Car being found in half of all infotainment systems.

In particular, ABI Research is anticipating that smartphone-integration in infotainment systems will grow quite a bit in the next five years, hitting a total of 35.1-million across the globe. A large portion of these will be equipped with MirrorLink systems (43.6-percent), but that Apple will ultimately trump this, with its iOS in the Car reaching 49.8-percent by 2018.

Other technologies won't fare so well against these two big players in the industry, with all other infotainment technologies totaling 28.2-percent of auto entertainment systems by 2018. The report includes numbers for more than one smartphone integration technologies in a car's infotainment system.

Said ABI Research Principal Analyst Gareth Owen: "Car OEMs face the difficult challenges of not only how best to integrate smartphones into their vehicles, but also how to ensure that the integration strategy remains viable throughout the life of the vehicle and multiple generations of smartphones. It is inevitable that consumers will demand to be able to use their smartphones in cars, even in luxury cars equipped with the latest top-of-the-range fully embedded infotainment systems."

SOURCE: BGR