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WSJ: Microsoft, Ford To Announce Partnership

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

December 29, 2006, 1:07 PM

American auto maker Ford is hoping an agreement with Microsoft to outfit its entire fleet of vehicles with computer and Bluetooth technology will help to turn around the company's fortunes. The announcement is expected to be made in January.

The system will be called "Sync," and will eventually be offered as an option on all Ford vehicles. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, car owners will be able to use the system to place hands-free cell phone calls or transfer information wirelessly, such as music or e-mail.

When the system is offered, it would likely be the first to do so within the United States. Those outside of the US can already get similar functionality through cars sold by Italian auto marker Fiat. Microsoft has already been offering its automobile operating system for some time now, however this agreement will be the biggest yet.

Two models will be shipped next year with the option, the Ford Focus and more upscale Five Hundred sedan. By 2008, the entire line of cars will have the option, WSJ reports. From there, the company's Lincoln and Mercury lines will be outfitted with the technology.

Although the exact date of the launch is not yet known, it is expected to come as a join announcement both at the Consumer Electronics Show and at the Detroit Auto Show, both occurring during the second week of January.

Both Ford and Microsoft have declined to discuss the matter, although Microsoft has confirmed that it was working on technologies with the automaker and would be making an announcement at the two conferences.

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By tscar12

edited Jan 2, 2007 - 7:37 PM

Next Ford is going to have Apple build the engine and Linux make the tires. Ford should go back to the Model T

Score: 0

By tankist

posted Jan 2, 2007 - 2:40 PM

leaving aside all stupid jokes,

i'm on the markey for a new car right now, and somehow blue tooth capbility is not the first thing i'm looking for in a vehicle. i'm first of all looking into not spending a lot of time on repairs. there is no Ford car that i want, obviously i'm insignificant but it appears that there are at least some people that think like me. with all the patriotism and all, domestic cars s...ck very badly

ford, if you want to survive build a good car. good enough will not do.

Score: 0

By tscar12

edited Jan 2, 2007 - 7:38 PM

Actually, I like all the stupid jokes.It makes life more fun.

Score: 0

By ds0934

posted Jan 2, 2007 - 2:30 PM

"fleet of vehicles with computer and Bluetooth technology will help to turn around the company's fortunes" I fail to see how such a peripheral feature will "turn around" Ford's gradual demise. Nobody on Wall Street can see it either it appears. Maybe we're all just blind? How about taking a serious look at the competition and trying to make better vehicles all-around?

Score: 0

By slinkys_delsol

posted Jan 2, 2007 - 1:44 PM

Have to "Activate" it in the first 30 days or it becomes unusable.

Probably have to use the VIN # for Activation.

Score: 0

By spongy-poo

edited Jan 2, 2007 - 2:18 PM

Sad, but humorous in a sick sort of way.

Score: 0

By The Man

posted Jan 2, 2007 - 11:32 AM

great...can't wait till something doesn't work.
we'll have the mechanic telling us to take the car to the computer tech, and the computer tech telling us to take the car to the mechanic.
:-p

Score: 0

By crashoverride

posted Jan 1, 2007 - 8:14 PM

Imagine explaining that one to a mechanic.. I don't know what happened..the FGA told me my Mustang isn't genuine.

Score: 0

By slinkys_delsol

posted Dec 31, 2006 - 3:31 PM

So, rather then a "Ford Mustang GT" we will have the option for the:

"Mustang BSOD"

The day is coming that I will have to tell my Mechanic that my car "Won't Boot"

Score: 0

By godofthunder

edited Dec 30, 2006 - 7:42 AM

Hey guys, on a serious note, I've just got my hands on one of these babies as I road test through ford often but have had dramas getting it up and running, the motor won't even kick over. I've noticed a persistent warning on my dash blinking profusely with the message "Enter your Activation Code and click Next to continue". Any ideas? Everything seemed to work fine before I replaced some part yesterday.

Score: 0

By Arakiel

posted Dec 29, 2006 - 2:21 PM

Heh the title of this article just reminds me of so many old jokes :)

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Dec 29, 2006 - 3:47 PM

Yup, the GM reply to Microsoft saying they have improved windows to the point where, if GM were PCs, Microsoft enabled them to get 100 miles per gallon. General Motors had a field day with that one :D

Score: 0

By mshulman

posted Dec 29, 2006 - 1:32 PM

Yeah, this is exactly why Ford has been having issues - no bluetooth!

Seriously, when will they learn that the problem is reliability.

Either build more reliable vehicles or have better warranties. If they came out with a 100k-150k mile warranty as standard, I bet they'd sell a lot more than bluetooth will help them sell!

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Dec 29, 2006 - 2:06 PM

Ford vehicles are a massive improvement over GM vehicles.

Score: 0

By mshulman

posted Jan 2, 2007 - 11:02 AM

But neither of them compare well to Toyota or Honda.

Score: 0

By spongy-poo

edited Jan 2, 2007 - 2:31 PM

For reliability, that's true. The Toyotas aren't bad for hauling and towing either.

Quote from USA Today, referring to the upcoming 2007 Tundra Pickup: "Tundra's bragging point will be a maximum towing capacity of more than 10,000 pounds, besting the reigning champ Ford F-150's 9,900-pound rating and Nissan Titan's 9,500 pounds."

Score: 0

By IceyKola

posted Dec 31, 2006 - 4:05 AM

Agreed. While I hated my 2001 Ford Taurus, Ford in my opinion has learned a lesson and starting with these new models such as the Fusion have improved their reliability. When I last looked at autos.yahoo.com a couple months ago, I compared the reviews for the Fusion and the Chevy Malibu (competitors) and the Fusion had 0 negative reviews over build quality faults, the only negative reviews were on personal style (button placements) and such. The Malibu had a lot of negative reviews complaining about rattles that GM wouldn't fix under waranty.

I end up having arguments with people saying that GMs are better than Fords just because they are selling more so people must like them more, but they don't factor in things like the fact that GM has more economicaly priced brands (chevy, pontiac, saturn, GMC) than Ford (that only has 1, 2 if you count mercury which the new CEO says they need to drop). Also that GM has to sell their cars cheaper just to attract people.

Ford usually introduces features to all their lines at the same time, so I don't know why this article is sayin that Lincoln and Mecury will have this stuff after Ford does. If that's the case I'm probably going to go with a Ford Fusion for my next car after my Lincoln Zephyr lease is up in 2008. Unless they have this system in the Lincolns by 2008 as well (which they better).

PS My Zephyr was only in the shop once this whole year to have something fixed, which was the aftermarket remote starter, so I don't blame Ford for that one.

Score: 0

By Arakiel

posted Dec 29, 2006 - 2:26 PM

Oo ... maybe in YOUR experience. Every Ford I've had has been nothing but problems while my Chevy's ran...well...they ran at least.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Dec 30, 2006 - 2:05 AM

My 1997 Chevrolet Malibu LS car has spent most of the time in the repair shop and it only has about 76,500 miles on it. The Passlock antitheft system had to be repaired at about 45,000 miles because it prevented the car from starting, the alternator had to be replaced at about 50,000 miles, and the master computer had to be replaced at about 65,000 miles.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

edited Dec 29, 2006 - 3:56 PM

Well, for the record, Ford Trucks (like the F150-F350 series) seem to be the most reliable and dependable, while Chevey has the smoothest ride and "smoothest" performance, but Dodge has more "umpth" but does not last long enough without problems.

However, recently the newer Ford trucks--since the 2004 models or so--have been much less than dependable as their predecessors were. This, IMHO, is why Ford has been losing to the competition (as far as sales figures) these past couple of years--they were best for their "Ford Tough" reliability--they certainly were not the smoothest ride, far from it, so once their dependability worsened, there was no other reason to use them opposed to Chevey, Toyota, or Dodge. This is strictly regarding 3/4 ton to 1 ton towing capacity pickup trucks though, and I know very little about automobiles relatively speaking.

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Dec 29, 2006 - 6:07 PM

There was an article in a recent Ford rag about an 80s F150 doing ~1,250,000 miles and still running strong.

That'll sell me on another Ford truck.

Score: 0

By UniversityofKentucky

posted Dec 29, 2006 - 1:32 PM

Getting from point A to point B reliably, efficiently and cost-effectively is what consumers care about. Adding Bluetooth will not make Ford competitive. I'm pro US, but it would take a lot to convince me to buy a US car over Toyota, Honda, etc. US automobile manufacturers rested on their laurels too long, and now it's pretty much too late. Dumb! Toyota manufacturing vehicles in Georgetown, KY, can outperform and outcompete GM manufacturing vehicles in Mexico. What is wrong with this picture???

Score: 0

By spongy-poo

posted Jan 2, 2007 - 2:33 PM

They also have a plant in Indiana and a new truck plant in San Antonio.

Score: 0

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