Mobile Music - Car Makers Plug Into iPod

Written by Adam Gosling

Saturday, 05 August 2006

Apple has announced a deal with three major car manufacturers to deliver seamless iPod integration in their new cars. Ford, General Motors and Mazda have all agreed to include iPod connections in their cars, delivering seamless iPod control to what will account for more than 70 per cent of 2007-model US automobiles. Luxury sports car maker Ferrari is also on the list of manufacturers planing to add iPod docks in the future. The iPod will integrate with the car's factory-installed stereo system. The integration will cover charging of the iPod, while conveniently storing the iPod in the glove compartment. Seamless iPod integration will allow drivers to use their car's multifunction controls to select their music using artist, album, playlist or shuffle songs, as well as to easily skip between tracks and playlists. It will not be the first time iPod's get a place in the dashboard. Luxury car makers like BMW have featured iPod integration for a couple of years now, but this deal will exponentially increase the number of iPod enabled cars on the market. "We're delighted that Ford, General Motors and Mazda will support iPod connectivity in nearly all of their new models," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. "Now more than 70 percent of 2007-model US automobiles will offer iPod integration, with General Motors alone making it available on all 56 of its models, representing millions of cars and trucks," he said. Ford and General Motors will feature iPod integration in the majority of their 2007 models in the US beginning later this year, while Mazda's entire global 2007 line-up of cars and SUVs will offer iPod connectivity. With over 58 million iPods and more than a billion iTunes songs already in the market the deal makes sense for manufacturers and makes it all the more difficult for late-mover Microsoft to get its own Zune player integrated in a similar deal. You can find out more about the plans for iPod enabled cars at http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodyourcar/. If you can't wait, or can't afford a new car, there are already a number of after market solutions available to integrate your iPod when you are on the road. http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodyourcar/accessories.html Related news items Hybrid Drive Boosts Laptop's Skillset -10/10/2007 Real Savings From Mobile Deployments: IDC -05/08/2007 Belkin's Docking Station For The Home -30/07/2007 Dell's New Vostro Notebooks For SMBs -11/07/2007 Nokia Payment An Admission: Qualcomm -09/04/2007 Newer news items Plantronics Convertible: A Neat Stereo Solution -25/02/2008 Single-Use MP3 Players Decline -30/04/2007 Airlines Agree To Integrate iPods: UPDATE -14/11/2006 Apple Clears iPod Factory -20/08/2006 Mylo No Go For Oz -10/08/2006 Older news items Nokia Sells 1 Million 3250's In Under Four Months -12/07/2006 There's No Pool Here, But I Want One For The Beach -10/07/2006 Via Make Ultra Mobiles 40% Smaller -07/07/2006 Microsoft iPod Rumours Gather Weight -05/07/2006 3 Free Speakers With The New Nokia N91 -05/07/2006 Tag This Now: