Years ago I would think I was being paranoid to think they would patch hardware retroactively to make it slower so you need to pay more to use your own hardware. In 2026, I think this is what all car companies are doing after you pay the full car price. I don't see a reason why they wouldn't do it with so little competition

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somat 2 hours ago | parent [-]

It smells like something IBM would do. Coming from small computers where you own it, I was flabbergasted to learn that IBM would ship additional processors and ram with their mainframes but you were not allowed to use them until you paid the additional license fee.

So it is something that has been done for a long time now. Still feels like unethical rent-seeking that should not be tolerated by the customer.

See Also: car companies that charge additional fees for hardware already on the car. Additional services, I sort of understand(remote start via cell network), but stuff like heated seats, that is just wrong.

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podocarp 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Databases licencing per core is the most ridiculous thing I've heard for me. In this case they have zero marginal cost and still charge you for it. Hilarious.

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motbus3 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Tesla do the same and I am not sure but someone told me Chevrolet and Audi have same "solutions" in place

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esseph 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Isn't this something apple has been in legal trouble over?

Yep, "Batterygate"

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936268845/apple-agrees-to-pay...

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mschuster91 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> See Also: car companies that charge additional fees for hardware already on the car. Additional services, I sort of understand(remote start via cell network), but stuff like heated seats, that is just wrong.

It saves the car manufacturer on logistics cost. The per-unit cost of a seat heater is (much) smaller than the cost related to keeping two variants of seat in stock and to provide spare parts. Say the heating mat costs 100€ per seat including materials and installation, and can be sold to the customer for 400€ permanent, that means as long as 1 in 4 customers buys the seat heating option, the books are balanced, and all money you save on logistics is pure profit.

Adding subscription on top of that is financially even better, if there is one thing companies LOVE thanks to stonk market incentives it is monthly recurring revenue.

	▲	motbus3 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		You are absolutely right! (Couldn't resist the ai pun) I think more than that, it is probably a lie they tell us that you are not paying for the hardware/equipment.