Zero Motorcycles in app purchase upgrades

[Da808Dragon]

Engadget article about Zero Motorcycles offering performance upgrades (top speed and total horse power) for the 2022 Zero SR through in ap purchases on the bikes computer. Other possible upgrades include heated handlebars and ride comfort settings.

 

 

My thoughts

 Start of the end. Not looking forward to this becoming mainstream.  

 

Sources

 https://www.engadget.com/zero-motorcycles-2022-sr-annoucement-181805528.html?src=rss

[givingtnt]

 

inb4 someone makes a 3rd party app in 0.219238834 seconds that unlocks everything

[8-Bit Ninja]

How do they stop someone just unlocking these through programming though?

 

My m140i had apple car play done by a third party for a fraction the cost of what BMW were charging, granted I haven't had the car serviced since so will be interesting to see what happens when I do. But if you purchase the bike can they actually stop you? 

[Avocado Diaboli]

And people called it a slippery slope argument when critics pointed out on-disc DLC for video games were a grim portent of things to come a decade ago.

[Blademaster91]

So you have to pay extra for features you already paid for when you bought the motorcycle, BMW and Mercedes are such crap for starting this trend of options.

[elfensky]

I kinda get it from a production standpoint - only have 1 skew instead of many... In fact, I think Tesla does that with heated rear seats iirc? And so do some other companies. But it does leave such a bad taste in your mouth, doesn't it?

I wonder the legality of unlocking it using a 3rd party, given you own the product. I imagine it's legal in the EU, but curious about the rest of the world.

[adarw]

fun fact this happened to a intel cpu once, dont remember what it was but it was locked with some software where you had to pay an extra 50 for it to unlock everything. to lazy to give links.

 

edit: as @James Evenssaid heres a link if you want to read about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Upgrade_Service

[Spotty]

Moved to Off Topic. Posts in the Tech News section need to comply with the Tech News Posting Guidelines.

[atxcyclist]

I think I'm just going to continue to ride my Honda motorcycles with engines, I don't need or want my motorcycle to be dependent on an app or microtransactions.

[Blue4130]

6 hours ago, 8-Bit Ninja said:

How do they stop someone just unlocking these through programming though?

 

 

By requiring always online to operate, or at least constant checking at certain intervals. There will always be ways to Crack it, but they can make it so tedious that most will not do it. 

 

The risk is that they alienate their market...