iOS in the Car- Apple's Trojan Horse?

Apple's recent WWDC Conference Keynote has dominated the news for the last ten days. Much of that is because of Jony Ive's redesign of iOS. This complete rethink of the UX of the OS was much anticipated and thus has been greatly debated. But one small announcement from that conference has gone almost completely unnoticed. I think this has the potential to be a Trojan Horse for Apple in the coming years. That is iOS in the Car.What is iOS in the Car?Apple's iOS in the Car feature integrates your iPhone5 with your in-car dash system. This will be available in 2014 and come integrated for new cars from Acura, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Opel, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volvo. The details of this program are yet to be unveiled as is the cost.Why is it a Trojan Horse?Apple has introduced two major iOS based software services in the last couple of years - Maps and Siri. It needs both of them to be massively successful to power the next generation of iOS software.MapsNavigation is one of the biggest reasons for people to buy smartphones today. And navigation is critical for any mobile ecosystem to succeed. Apple knows this. That is why it took the risky step of moving away from Google Maps as its default navigation engine to its own. But it was not the launch Apple was hoping for. Maps was plagued by poor data and imaging. Google Maps is the most popular Maps application on iOS as a result. Apple will want to recapture its lost audience and have Apple Maps be as good if not better than Google Maps.To get better in Maps, Apple needs data. What better way than to have iOS Maps integrated on cars?. This will ensure that millions of users of iPhone will now use Apple Maps on the cars. This will allow Apple to dramatically improve its maps data. This will reflect in the directions that it provides to its users. A virtuous cycle where the user and Apple win and Google gets left out.SiriThe first big innovation that Apple pioneered with the iPhone was the touch screen. While touchscreen devices existed prior to the iPhone, Apple made it really good and user friendly. The next major thing that Apple has tried to introduce into the mobile ecosystem is Siri, its intelligent personal assistant. Again, voice based control of smartphone actions has been around for a while. Siri just made it more mainstream. But Siri has not seen the widespread adoption many predicted it would. The first version of Siri that shipped with iOS5 was subpar in terms of voice recognition, backend services and utility. Siri was significantly improved with iOS6 and is evolving again with iOS7. It is expected that the next form of interaction with smartphones will not be touch but voice based. And Siri is Apple's play in this space.For voice recognition services to work well, it needs a huge database of voices. Siri is as good as the number of people who use it. There is still not a critical mass of Siri users to make it as powerful as it can be. And here is where iOS in the car comes into play. With iOS integrated into the car dash system, users will be forced to use Siri more than the do currently. And this will allow Apple to collect a huge number of voice samples and user preferences to the make Siri all the more better. Siri usage in the car will also make people more comfortable with the service that they will use it more and more outside the car- at home, in their offices and everywhere else.More data, better servicesAs users use iOS in their cars, Apple will gain valuable insight into user preferences and actions. Google Now does a great job today with giving contextual data that it thinks the user wants. With iOS in the car, Apple will be able to give contextual data that it knows user wants. This will be a big step forward for Apple which has lagged behind Google in the software and services area for mobile devices. Android has had a car mode for a while now. The HTC Car mode icon seems to have inspired Apple's iOS in the car icon too. But all that said and done, Android car mode is primarily a phone based service that needs to be activated and managed on the handset. With more and more states and countries making it illegal to use mobile devices while driving, it will be a challenge for Google to push its car mode very much. Apple's iOS in the Car will be more used because of the sheer number of iOS users and also its integration with the car's own in-dash display. This will make it a very interesting battle between Apple and Google for the next step in smartphone technology and services.