They control the platform, and people buy the objects for reasons that have nothing to do with the software they run. Until the software is so bad it hurts sales they don't have to do any better.

They are incentivized to keep things in their own little world. Why let Apple sell apps when GM can sell apps? Remember when Tetris on your phone was $5 a month? Yeah, that's just a step away from where we are.

The car companies are probably only doing this for two reasons. First they might get put in an Apple ad, and second they want recent iPhone buyers (who, relative to people taking free phones, are likely to have more disposable income to spend on a car).

Let's just hope this is more iPhone than Motorola ROKR. I think Apple is powerful enough at this point to avoid another mistake of that magnitude.