Based on Sawyer Merritt and Teslascope Tesla is in energetic development of an app store for its vehicles. The app store is rumored to be released before the primary Cybertrucks are delivered.
Concept designer DeleetDesigns has even designed what a Tesla app store could appear to be.
Having a Tesla app store is definitely an interesting concept, and I definitely imagine Tesla is working on one, however it might not be what you think that it’s.
The concept by DeleetDesigns is well-executed and it brings some interesting ideas to the table like letting you charge items to your Tesla account.
Nevertheless, it leads us to imagine that a Tesla app store will likely be much like Apple’s or Google’s versions.
I’m unsure apps like Burger King, Slack, Twitter, and others are great candidates for the Tesla app store.
There are only about 2 million Teslas. While it’s definitely impressive what Tesla has been capable of accomplish, that is only about 0.0016% of all of the energetic iPhones on the earth. What this implies is that developers would not put as much time and cash into their Tesla app versions. And after they’re developed, they’ll quickly fall behind their smartphone counterparts.
Tesla could avoid this issue by letting users run Android apps, much like how you could possibly run Andorid apps on some Chromebooks, but most of those apps don’t scale well to larger screens, especially a 15 or 17-inch screen.
It’ll all the time be easier to scroll through something like Twitter in your phone than it’s on a screen that is an arm’s length away from you. It is also more convenient to type on a phone than it’s to peck at an on-screen keyboard.
What We Think the Tesla App Store Will Be
We all know that Tesla is working on an app store, and here’s what we predict it’ll be like.
As an alternative of being an app store much like Apple’s that permits developers to make any type of app, we predict Tesla will likely be limiting the apps to those which can be well suited to use in a automotive.
It’s expensive to create the framework required to create an app store, especially one that permits apps to be as versatile as phone apps are today. Why should Tesla undergo all that work for developers to create apps that few people will use?
How often do end up wanting to make use of your TV as an alternative of your smartphone? Even for some video apps like TikTok, it doesn’t make a variety of sense. It’s just easier to swipe in your phone.
Many set-top boxes can run all kinds of apps, but most individuals don’t need to buy on Amazon or browser Facebook on their TV.
As an alternative, they wish to use their TV for apps that may provide an experience their phone is not capable of. Apps that allow them to stream video on a bigger screen, like Netflix, or exercise with apps like Peloton or Apple Fitness+, or possibly even share a slideshow for the family. What we’re not doing is responding to emails or Slack messages on the TV, and even taking a look at stock quotes. That type of stuff is rather more suited to a phone.
Although Tesla has probably the greatest infotainment systems of any vehicle, it could actually’t compete with a tool that you just upgrade every few years. A tool that has a faster connection, higher resolution screen, more storage, easier payment authentication, and a faster processor.
A Tesla app will likely be successful when can leverage the advantages a Tesla can provide over your phone; an even bigger screen and integration together with your Tesla.
Tesla won’t trouble creating APIs for developers to construct apps that are not well suited to a Tesla.
As an alternative, Tesla will focus their efforts on constructing developer tools that may allow anyone to create apps that may excel in a Tesla. These apps will likely be for things resembling SiriusXM and Apple Music. It may very well be video streaming apps like YouTube TV and Amazon Prime Video.
These apps will integrate seamlessly into your Tesla UI, similar to DeleetDesigns illustrates in his concept.
What if Tesla had an app store? I put together this prototype to see what it could be like. What apps would you must see?
cc/ @tesla @elonmusk @Teslarati @ElectrekCo @InsideEVs pic.twitter.com/gPCD05JIvO
— CHROME DELEET (@deleetdesign) February 16, 2022
The Tesla app store would let developers port additional games to Teslas as well, giving owners much more gaming options.
Creating an app store will likely be an enormous win for Tesla. There are a variety of entertainment options on the market and Tesla cannot sustain with all the most recent streaming services.
By creating an app store and APIs for developers, Tesla can offload the event of those apps to other corporations. It’ll allow corporations like Apple to create Apple Music on your Tesla, it’ll allow SiriusXM can create a streaming SiriusXM app. This can liberate Tesla’s engineers’ time and provides owners the apps they’re in search of.
Most Teslas have relatively small hard drives, so they don’t seem to be able to storing apps infinite amounts of video streaming apps and games. By creating an app store, users could install only the apps and games which can be relevant to them. This can help liberate space taken up games or apps the owner may not use today.
To run apps much like our smartphones and tablets, Teslas would require a more capable processor than the one utilized in most Teslas. It’d likely only be available for Teslas with MCU 3, which might exclude just about all Teslas manufactured to date.
Nevertheless, if the app store was limited to games, video, and audio streaming apps, then it may very well be available for MCU 2 vehicles as well.
All the video streaming apps in Teslas today are only full-screen versions of the app’s website. Having developers create native experiences for Netflix, YouTube and others would make these apps rather more responsive than they’re today.
We all know that Tesla is creating an app store that may likely be released in the approaching 12 months. The app store will profit Tesla and Tesla owners alike, but we can have to change our expectations of what a Tesla app store will likely be.
