Question: mr. Clemens, how does telekom fit into the automotive industry??
Response: the competition between car manufacturers is no longer fought in vehicle technology. The service offering in the car makes all the difference. With their mobile devices, customers are used to using their content while on the go. The question is: how do we get them into the car?? We need an open platform that all car brands and service providers can jump on. And the customer must be able to decide what he wants to use: for example, which streaming service he uses to listen to music.
Question: the car manufacturers initially tried to do everything themselves. The approach changes?
Answer: a major rethink is now taking place, the automotive industry is beginning to open up. Manufacturers had to realize that consumer IT is a different business than building a car. How to identify the user? How to handle payments? This calls for a provider who can offer the car manufacturers a solution.
Our strategy is to build a high-performance platform with a network connection for this purpose. Because the connection to the network and services belong together.
Question: but can’t you stand out from the competition with new services??
Response: there will be a lot of services coming that are not differentiation. Parking, or pay directly from the car will all offer, one earlier, the other later – so you can not stand out in the future. However, the speed of market introduction is one of the essential factors. Over time, in-car internet connectivity will become as commonplace as electricity from the wall socket.
Question: online services in cars are only as good as the quality of the network – and that often leaves a lot to be desired along the autobahn, for example…
Answer: we have just launched our network offensive to achieve bandwidths of 150 megabits per second in mobile communications in the coming years. Of course, as a customer of a music service, i expect it to run stutter-free in the car as well. And people don’t want to pay another mobile phone contract for that either. It must also not be an exclusive system, only for drivers of a 7-series BMW or the mercedes S-class. It must become an offer for the mass market.
Question: the construction of such a platform is not cheap. How do you want to earn money?
Answer: the service providers could, for example, pay to get on the platform. Or you can share the sales. Completely new business ideas can also arise: for example, reserving parking spaces or discount vouchers from gas stations on the way, when the gas is running low. Such offers will come, because they are simply convenient, you will not be able to resist the market.