Carlinkit CarPlay
How a Programmer Bootstrapped An Innovative In-Vehicle Brand
"You are much more likely to achieve success if you have a realistic idea and treat the easy and challenging tasks with equal enthusiasm and effort."
Who are you and what do you do?
I am Michael Zong, I am the owner of Carlinkitcarplay.com. I used to be a programmer and now I own an innovative company specializing in the development of the CarPlay /Android auto.
What is CarlinKit CarPlay?
Our company is an innovative company specializing in the development of the CarPlay /Android auto, an in-vehicle interconnection product for the automotive aftermarket.
We are fully committed to the research and development, application, and promotion of multi-screen interactive products. We have the most mature multi-screen interconnection and car interconnection protocols in China and abroad.
Carlinkitcarplay.com is one of the most important projects to promote our company's products. We hope that by promoting this website, we can provide the most suitable solution for users who wants to convert their wired Carplay/Android Auto to wireless.
At the same time, Carlinkitcarplay.com has the most systematic FAQ support on the Carplay's adapter industry, providing authoritative technical references for customers around the world who have purchased the Carlinkit products from 3rd party platforms but cannot fulfill satisfactory technical support.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
In 2016, Apple launched the Carplay function, and some car manufactories release the car with factory wired Carplay. However, it will increase the possibility of the accidence if the users use the wired Carplay when their driving, the cable might distract the concentration. Therefore we begin to dive into how to convert wired Carplay into wireless.
At the same time, with the wireless Carplay adapter, customers do not need to waste money on retrofitting the car, as long as your car has factory wired Carplay, you can use the Carlinkit adapter and enjoy the wireless Carplay journey.
Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.
At first, we star the first-generation products for the domestic needs, which laid an important foundation for our transition to the international market. Then we update and iterate our products according to the local car dealers and the feedback from the customers.
At the same time, we also pay attention to different promotion channels and try them out, such as e-commerce platforms, SNS, wholesale business, etc.
Describe the process of launching the business.
Before selling the products overseas, Carlinkit products have achieved great success in multi-screen interactive technology domestically, in order to expand our business, we began to sell our products overseas.
Carlinkitcarplay.com was established in 2020. From start-up, we adopt Google ads to spread our reputation over the world, meanwhile, we also started to create our SNS accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to interact with Carlinkit fans. After Carlinkit becomes popular in the Carplay adapter market, we dedicate ourselves to website SEO promotion.
Currently, the organic search is the largest source of the traffic to our site.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
The most important thing is we put our customers as our priority. We provide professional technical support for every single customer. Our hotline is 24*7 hours in time and we never miss our customer email or messages no matter at work time or on holiday.
Secondly, we have our own long-term cooperation logistics partners, and we are constantly looking for reliable overseas warehouse companies, which enable our customers to receive their packages in the most time-saving and efficient way.
Last but not least, we optimize and upgrade our products according to customer needs and feedback constantly.
What's the reason customers pick CarlinKit CarPlay over your competitors?
As we have said above, we valued our customers and are committed to offering the best product and service to them all the time.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
Challenges and opportunities coexist. What we need to do is focus on the trend of the industry and find a sustainable business in the changeable market, and become the benchmark of the industry.
Since starting the business, what's the number 1 thing you have learned?
Set an actionable goal for your own business and work towards it.
Insert videos & images of their products
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
Platform: Shopify
Tools：
1. Abandoned Cart Recovery Email: Send email to abandoned check-out customers
2. Judge.me: Show the customers' real reviews
3. Shopify Marketing Email: Do the Email Direct Marketing
4. Grammarly: Correct the spelling error
5. SimilarWeb: Website traffic analysis
6. Ahrefs/ SEMrush: Analyze our competitors
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
Philip Kotler’s Marketing Management is known as the marketing bible in the business field. From my perspective is a very informative book where each concept is explained with fun real-life examples. You learn how to create, win and dominate markets in a very fun way. This book teaches me a lot. It is worth reading.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
From my start-up experience, it is essential to be mentally prepared for the highs and lows that you want to start a business. If someone only focuses on the easy and enjoyable aspects of the business, he or she will usually underestimate the situation and encounter many more difficulties on his or her journey.
You are much more likely to achieve success if you have a realistic idea and treat the easy and challenging tasks with equal enthusiasm and effort.
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Frequently Asked Questions about CarlinKit CarPlay
Does Carlinkit Work With iPhone?
Yes, Our Carlinkit works with iPhone especially our Carlinkit 3.0 has two versions, the previous version only supports iPhone wireless Carplay. Then we expand to the new version which not only works with wireless Carplay but also can be used for wireless Android auto. It is a big value that Carlinkit with two systems.
Does Carlinkit Work With Android Phones?
Yes, our latest Carlinkit 3.0 is the perfect match for Android phones, It can be used for wireless Android auto with any kind of Android smartphone. Don’t forget, iPhone users can still enjoy this tiny magic tool.
How Do You Use Carlinkit CarPlay?
Carlinkit is a tool just plug and play, an easy way to amuse our customers on their road trip. Two steps to getting there, first use the A to C cable connected to our Carlinkit 3.0 with a head unit, secondly, use your phone connected by Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. A few seconds bring you to a fun and relaxing trip in your car.
How Long Does CarlinKit CarPlay Take to Ship & Deliver?
We offer FREE & FAST international shipping as standard shipping. Our standard shipping is normally 1-2 weeks. Some of our warehouses located overseas like USA and Australia etc. so that we can deliver within one week. More importantly, We also offer an expedited shipping option for saving delivery times(about 1-5 business days) via DHL/ FedEx for all customers.
Where Is The CarlinKit CarPlay Store Located?
Ours headquarter, R&D department, and design Team is settled in Shenzhen, China for a long time.
CarlinKit CarPlay - Customer Reviews
CarlinKit CarPlay has a rating of 4.9 out of 5.0 based on 753 customer reviews.
❝
This is my second time purchasing a product from Carlinkit, first product was the carlinkit 3.0, and served me extremely well, with zero complaints.
Now I ordered the tbox and switched out the 3.0. wow, this thing is great, loaded all the video streaming apps via APK, pretty solid unit. I run it with a 5g sim card from rogers.
Turns on within 30 secs of starting my truck. highly recommended 5 stars!
TIM F.
❝
My experience with Carlinkit has been a positive one and it is truly Plug and Play. I have used it on a Mazda CX-5, Hyundai I20N and Alpine aftermarket head unit and it works well on all. Takes about 20-30 seconds to boot up (faster on the newer car) and then works fine. So convenient!
STEPHEN K.
❝
I was pretty skeptical about this, but all of the reviews helped me along and I decided to purchase! I was wow’d the minute I plugged it in. After the initial BT connection, my phone connects within 3-5 seconds.
The connection has been amazingly good. My wife was jealous so we just ordered her one as well. Definitely recommend for Apple CarPlay!!!
Brian H.
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I’m always skeptical of these things. I bought it (Carlinkit 3.0 Wireless Apple CarPlay), assuming it was a risk as to whether it would work or not. WOW - I was completely surprised. I started to read the instructions, but gave up and decided to just plug it in and see what happened.
The connection was almost instant. I didn’t want to rave about how great it was until I’d used it for a while. After 2 weeks, the connection is solid and starts right up. This saved me from buying another after-market head unit with wireless CarPlay.
I recommend it to anyone and everyone that wants this convenience. I just ordered the cup charger as well. Specifics: 2016 Prius C II with Pioneer AVH-2440NEX head unit, using an iPhone 12 Pro-Max
Clayton A.
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