For its "Executive Analysis of European Consumers’ Awareness and Preferences for Usage of Smartphone Apps Inside and Outside Car", the consulting firm surveyed 1,911 customers across Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France to assess preferences and willingness to pay for smartphone apps and usage inside the car. The survey measured usage of infotainment and apps solutions and gauges perceptions toward existing and potentially new infotainment concepts.

The research found that the most popular smartphone apps are navigation and live traffic information, yet they are used less than one hour at a time. As a result, Frost & Sullivan says that for car manufacturers looking to add car-related apps, the emphasis should be on providing basic drive and vehicle information apps while recognizing that these apps may be used at first in a limited capacity.

Currently, car owners are getting most apps free. As they become more dependent on basic apps, usage is expected to increase and the uptake of apps that are currently perceived as secondary or tertiary may increase.

'However, car manufacturers should not depend upon car-related apps to be significant revenue opportunities,' said research analyst Praveen Chandrasekar. 'Rather, car-related apps along with HMI concepts built-in to cars could be utilised as the draw for more vehicle sales overall among the car brands who embrace these technologies.'

The survey also shows that Bluetooth connections are preferred over cable connections by car owners. As a result, car manufacturers may eventually be pressured to include such connections as a standard feature. The most popular HMI concept combination uses individual buttons (for input) and a visual display (for output).