This is interesting. It seems like everything is going subscription-based. It sort if makes sense in that software can be improved upon after sale and needs to be maintained, but on the other hand a single but fix can be sent to an arbitrarily large number of units, so with this model only the largest companies will be able to compete in features and price.
With so many purchases to consider, and less and less time during which to do it, I wonder when we'll get to the point that there are companies that sell an entire "lifestyle". You make $30k/year? Here's our bronze subscription option. For $20,000/year we'll put you up in a spartanly furnished apartment and with a servicable car and you'll get your staple foods and toiletries delivered every other week. Whatever you have leftover after taxes is yours for saving or spending. Make $150k? The gold package costs $90k/year and includes a luxury apartment downtown, a Tesla and fresh vegetables shipped twice a week!
> In some markets, BMW owners may also be able to pay for "authentic" BMW engine sounds that will come through the car stereo. In many BMW cars today, the engine sound is augmented inside the cabin with pre-recorded sounds from the stereo. These are tuned to match the engine speed and performance so they sound like actual sounds coming directly from the engine. This is done so that the cabin can be quiet during normal driving but occupants can still experience engine sound when it's wanted, BMW executives have said.
I'm not going to go as far as to say we've stopped building useful things, but we really could be a post-scarcity society if we had our priorities right.
That is such a terrifying and plausible dystopia. Holiday packages, but applied to your whole life. A whole new avenue for monopoly and corporate power consolidation!
>For $20,000/year we'll put you up in a spartanly furnished apartment and with a servicable car and you'll get your staple foods and toiletries delivered every other week.
This would be amazing, and I would subscribe. It sounds like Basic Income.
That's a really great idea, actually. The majority of people worry about money not because they literally can't survive, but because there are too many, complex, choices to make about money. Maybe I want a nice car but a shitty apartment, I could get the gold transport package and the bronze apartment package, or whatever.
With so many purchases to consider, and less and less time during which to do it, I wonder when we'll get to the point that there are companies that sell an entire "lifestyle". You make $30k/year? Here's our bronze subscription option. For $20,000/year we'll put you up in a spartanly furnished apartment and with a servicable car and you'll get your staple foods and toiletries delivered every other week. Whatever you have leftover after taxes is yours for saving or spending. Make $150k? The gold package costs $90k/year and includes a luxury apartment downtown, a Tesla and fresh vegetables shipped twice a week!