One of the most impressive announcements Apple made last week was not the pricing of its new Watch nor the litheness of its new laptop, but rather that CarPlay — its proprietary interface between iOS and the automobile — has now officially been adopted by every major automaker.
Why is this so impressive?
First, it means that Apple will now be in a position to dominate the final frontier of the digital world, that still-up-for-grabs territory between the home and the office known as the car. Second, it shows what can happen when a company develops a longterm strategy and sticks to it.
Ever since the advent of the iPhone, automakers have been trying to woo Apple. In 2007, for example, news of a meeting between Volkswagen AG chief Martin Winterkorn and Steve Jobs led to all sorts of wild speculation in the media about a technological tie-up between the two iconic brands along the lines of Ford Motor alliance with Microsoft.
But Apple had bigger plans. Instead of one slice of the global car market, it wanted the whole pie.
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