The industry-first capability puts Ford out front in the race to integrate smartphone apps into the car. The AppLink download for Fiesta owners went live today on the SYNC owner website, http://www.syncmyride.com.
“More and more drivers are using their devices and their apps while in the car,” said Doug VanDagens, director of Ford Connected Services, in the press release. “With AppLink, SYNC is a smarter solution for these drivers who choose to use these apps while driving – making it the only connectivity system available that can extend app functionality to the car using both voice and steering wheel controls.”
Ford is also announcing a surprise new member to the AppLink family: the Apple iPhone. The popular smartphone makes for a powerful addition, and will be joining Android and BlackBerry smartphones as compatible devices with the software that allows apps to be controlled through the SYNC voice recognition system – a smarter alternative to manually controlling apps while driving.
Recent studies indicate 46 percent of adult smartphone users have apps on their phones and 36 percent of those admit to using those apps while commuting. Moreover, the 2010 study “Staying Connected on the Go: A Look at In-Vehicle Smartphone Integration Systems” conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association reports that 55 percent of smartphone owners prefer voice commands as their user interface for in-car smartphone integration, making the business case for SYNC and AppLink even more compelling.
“SYNC and AppLink work hand-in-hand to answer consumer demand for safer, smarter control of smartphones while in the car,” said VanDagens. “Ford has worked hard to be a step ahead or at least in step with the speed of the consumer electronics market, and to leverage the technologies, features and services we know our customers want to be connected to while driving.”
2011 SYNC-equipped Ford Fiesta owners need to log in to their account on www.syncmyride.com to access the free AppLink download in the Update & Customize section.
As with any typical download, the AppLink software can be stored on a USB memory stick, and then inserted and uploaded to the vehicle via the SYNC system’s USB port. In-car installation takes less than 10 minutes.
The first SYNC-enabled apps to market are Pandora internet radio, Stitcher news radio and OpenBeak for listening to Twitter posts. Once the AppLink upload is complete, customers can then visit their phones’ respective app store to download the latest SYNC-enabled Pandora, Stitcher or OpenBeak app to their smartphone as they would any other app.
Current availability of SYNC-enabled apps:
• Pandora
– Apple iPhone: Coming early 2011
– Android: Available now (V1.5.3 or higher)
– BlackBerry: Available now (Version 1.1.6 or higher)
• Stitcher
– Apple iPhone: Coming early 2011
– Android: Coming early 2011
– BlackBerry: Late availability
• OpenBeak
– BlackBerry: Available now from http://m.openbeak.com and soon in Blackberry App World (Version 1.4 or higher)
AppLink makes the connection between app and SYNC fairly seamless and simple, using Bluetooth streaming on paired Android and BlackBerry smartphones and the USB port for a connected Apple iPhone.
To access a mobile app with a SYNC-paired phone, the user simply has to press the VOICE button on the steering wheel and say the command, “Mobile applications,” followed by the name of the app he or she would like to launch.
Once linked to Pandora, SYNC users can access their favorite personalized radio features, including creating and choosing stations, bookmarking songs for purchase, and giving songs a thumbs up/down all through voice. Command structure is intuitive and simple: “Play station classic rock radio,” “Bookmark song,” “Thumbs up” or “Thumbs down.”
“Where before users would pick up their phone, taking their eyes off the road and hands off the steering wheel while driving to select a station and hit play, AppLink makes all of that functionality available through voice control, just like managing AM and FM radio or your MP3 player through SYNC,” said Julius Marchwicki, SYNC product manager, in the press release.
Similar voice command pathways and functionality exist for the Stitcher and OpenBeak apps. With Stitcher, for example, you can say the command, “Play station news” to listen to your favorite news radio or “Play station sports” to hear on-demand sports programming. Other popular Stitcher features such as skip station, thumbs up/down and “Add to favorites” are also available via voice.
Through the OpenBeak app, drivers can simply say the SYNC command, “Read timeline.” In seconds, their feed is read aloud using the SYNC text-to-speech engine – a very similar experience to listening to talk radio.
Additional SYNC-enabled apps and smartphone integrations are coming soon, said Marchwicki. AppLink will also be introduced on other SYNC-equipped new model vehicles in 2011.
Ford will feature demos of AppLink at the Pepcom Digital Experience media event in Las Vegas on Jan. 5, 2011, and then at the 2011 International CES consumer technology trade show in Las Vegas between Jan. 6 and Jan. 9, 2011.
Source: Ford Motor Company
I am so glad I’m not writing the interface for that amalgam.
How can it be worth it to write the code, testing it, and deploying it for 14,000 possible end users?
When they bring back the Pantera, well talk.
Ford¿ Does somebody buy those things anymore?
BMW
Has a Ford with sync GPF’ed yet
Ford is making a big comeback.
Sync is the most successful product to come out of Redmond since 1995.
Ford should have teamed with Apple from the start and had nothing to do with Microsoft, Google, Rimm or anyone else. Ford and GM make poor decisions. The future probably won’t be good for them at this rate.
I WON’T buy a Ford simply because of SYNC!
Cue all the naive anti-Ford comments…..
Well, looks like “One Guy From Finland” already started it off.
Problem is, SYNC is a Microsoft product. That’s why I don’t even allow a Ford to roll across my driveway. (Much less own one. Chrysler 300 Hemi for me! .. and bright red!)
I own a Ford Focus with Sync, it’s a great system. I was quite surprised, given that it’s a Microsoft technology. But they stay up to date with the latest devices and software updates, and it’s a pretty full-featured system that works almost flawlessly.
I have used the Microsoft Sync in many Fords & let me tell u it works quite well. It’s the only thing Microsoft has done that I kinda like.
I’m not gonna avoid using a car because it has a Microsoft product in it, heck if it’s being made to work with Apple products then why not? It’s not like Windows.
At least Ford is trying to have some decent tech in their cars. They are making a real effort. I can’t say that for many other cars. Sure, they were clueless for a long time, but I am giving them a chance. I can’t say I am going to run out and get one, but I’m also not going to eliminate them because of their brand.
I thought Leo said on the TWIT ads that SYNC already worked with iPhones. False or preemptive advertising?
Fords are alright. I drove one for week a couple of months ago and was pleasantly surprised. The SYNC/MS relationship is a concern, but I’ve heard good things about it. If I were shopping for car today, I would not overlook a test drive in the Fords.
I have one of these and it works well with iPhone. Although not 100% seamless. Voice control iPhone and iPod with USB is nice. Bluetooth control is limited but saves me from plugging into the USB port.
The system is based on Microsoft Windows Mobile. And the update process of SYNC is very Microsoft though, difficult, not easy to use, and notification of success or all the caution in the instruction, is like hell.
@Wingsy
Waiting for the Chrysler Hemi ‘roid?
I will not use Microsoft STINK & I am no Ford hater.
I own shares in Ford, drive a Ford product, learned to drive in a Ford and grew up in a town where an uncle owned o local Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealership.
I also will not knowingly buy anything with embedded Windoze if I have any other option. STINK (sync) is a Ford front end over Microshit Auto- a rebranding of a flavor of Windoze.
I had a 1977 Ford F150 Explorer (460 V8), ten years old when I bought it.
A few years later I bought an 89 Taurus wagon, traded it for 93 Aerostar, and then bought a 93 Ranger, both XLTs.
In 2003, I got a new Explorer XLT SUV as a work vehicle.
They all went well over 100,000 miles, the SUV and Ranger going over 200,000 miles.
Last year I bought a used 2005 Freestyle for my daughter.
My girlfriend bought a decked out 2010 Escape with Sync.
It works great.
I’ve had a Chevy (66 Chevelle, 08 Silverado), 78 Pontiac Grand Prix, 77 Buick Something, 83 Subaru GL, 86 Toyota, 69 Oldsmobile Delta 88 (455 V8!), but I have always had the most luck with Fords.
BTW, Dad has a Mercedes, Step-Mom a BMW, Mother a BMW, then Lexus, now another Lexus, Sister has a Escalade and they were all good cars.
But if you want a good hybrid, Ford/Lincoln is a solid choice.
Same for a truck or SUV. And that new Taurus is incredible.
Sync has repeatedly won top honors over other systems.
If you prefer another vehicle, that’s fine (I love Infinitis), but calling Ford second rate shows elitism and ignorance at the same time…..
The reason Ford went with MS and not Apple, is likely because Apple probably wasn’t interested in getting into that sort of product.
I have exclusively purchased only Fords for years, and have been very happy.
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/07/13/fords-sync-blocks-calls-and-text-while-driving/
first its a button, then its “broken” and always on.
then its called a “feature”
Never will own a vehicle with Sync, never will own a Ford either… but thats another story.
I’ve only owned Ford cars, and would prefer buying American. Won’t cross the Microsoft line however. Google would be worse. Would be nice if an American startup car manufacturer used only Apple. Apple innovation could help the industry.
I was a Ford fan as a child but when I was old enough to buy one I chose Toyota. Ford has lost its ‘cool’ a long time ago. When they chose to partner with Microsoft, I completely lost respect for them.
If you have a toaster made by Company X would you refuse to eat bread from Baker Y?
I have a 2010 Ford Focus with SYNC and am disappointed at the level of features from the iPhone that it supports. For example, it will connect with bluetooth for audio playback, but you can’t use voice commands for playback control, and there is no music data displayed besides “Bluetooth Audio”. You can apparently send texts, have emails read to you and whatnot with other phones but not with the iPhone. The list of features is brief, so it hardly seems worth it.
As a longtime Volvo owner, though, I love the car.