Apple Partners with Ford

conq writes "BusinessWeek reports on Apple's latest partnership with Ford. This new accessory will be available in all Ford, GM and Mazda 2007 models allowing users to control thei iPod through the car's stereo controls. From the article: 'Currently, most MP3 players connect to vehicles via tape-deck or FM radio adapters. The devices are relatively cheap, ranging from $20 to $90, but are often difficult to operate while driving and can distort sound quality. But the iPod jacks, situated in glove compartments, let drivers easily operate players with existing stereo controls and charge a device's battery without an additional adapter.'"

OK But...

[MBCook]

These things look nice. I would love one in my van. I tried 3 or 4 different FM transmitters before I finally got a CD-changer interface so the iPod plugs directly into the back of the stereo (which took a long time to find because of my car). That said, there is one thing that worries me.

What happens when Apple changes the interface? You don't expect them to keep the same dock connector forever. Does the system have an alternate input (standard line-in, for example)? Is there a cable that can be changed so you can use dock-connector 2.0 (or whatever)?

Just something to think about.

Really, I wish some kind of audio input bus would be put into cars to simplify all this stuff. You either have to get a special (and expensive) adaptor to fake being a CD-changer, or use the FM transmitter. Now let's say I have an XM receiver and a iPod and I want both plugged into my car stereo? I can't do it (without hacking a dock interface connector for the XM). Or what if I want to add HD radio? Or plug in a tape player (which my car lacks). Just a simple line-in jack would be fine with me. I don't need the rest of the fancy stuff (although it's nice).

My guess is this is just vendor lock in since there was basically no demand for it before iPods (and their ilk) and you could always use a tape adapter (although more and more cars lack cassette drives).

Nice, but I want better...

[rthille]

I don't want to have to remember to lug my ipod out to the car, I want my car to be an iTunes client. It should have wifi and 100GB, and should sync whenever I pull into the garage (or within range of my home wifi network).

I'll leave the interface on the radio as an excercise for product developers, but neither the iPod interface nor the 'pretend it's a big CD changer' is the right approach.

Ford? Uh oh.

[gklinger]

Now is the perfect [cnn.com] time to partner with Ford! Seriously though, it's good news and I look forward to such a feature being available on all cars. Using an FM transmitter isn't viable in a metropolitan center with a clogged FM band and a cassette adaptor is becoming less and less useful as many new cars lack cassette players. While a simple input jack that connects to the output jack of any electronic device (rather than just iPods) may be cheaper and more flexible, it doesn't allow for integration with the iPod's interface. The day is approaching when all cars will have LCD displays built into the dashboard/console and being able to browse through songs on your iPod as well as display information about the current song would be ideal.

Re:in the glove box?

[Kohath]

Does that scare anyone else?

Yes, people who scare easily and are generally scared of everything. It scares them.

I bet that will be the cause of more than one accident...

Adjusting your iPod while driving is already probably causing accidents. That's a selling point for this feature. It makes it easier to change songs without looking away from the road.

iPods are about music, not about avoiding car accidents. Everything in the world doesn't have to be about avoiding car accidents.

Hope it is better then the Honda crap..

[BawbBitchen]

I have a 2006 Honda CR-V. I bought the Honda iLink. It sucks. Stay away. It comes with a crappy software prg that goes and makes a talking name/artist for each song. It is an AppleScript (compiled I think) that does not even really work! I tried it on a library of 2000 tunes and it errors out half way thru. There are no updates and the company that wrote the code does not support it - call Honda they say. Did I say that the 2000 tunes takes about 40 mins to run? Wonder how it is going to work on my full collection of 38K.

www.beastproject.org

What about Third Party Solutions? Hint: Alpine

[Stripes007]

Alpine has this already for anybody who mods their car audio. Their 2006 head units have full support for most IPods (3rd gen and up). All you need is a compatible head unit and this $30 cable [alpine-usa.com] and all controls are through the head unit. Charges the battery as well. I have it, its great. Works just as well, if not better, some of these factory units.

Not new...

[AfricanImpi]

This is nothing new. BMW has been doing this since 2004, when they were the first to partner with Apple. Since then, Apple has partnered with other manufacturers, including Honda, Audi, Volkswagen, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Dodge, Jaguar, Jeep, Nissan, Daihatsu, Renault, Suzuki and Volvo. http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodyourcar/ [apple.com]