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.'"

Comments

The real question

[brainplay]

Is this going to be able to work as a universal adapter or will it be for Ipods only? Steve Jobs already tells us enough what we can and can't use. Damn the man and his DMR's

in the glove box?

[ajdowntown]

Does that scare anyone else? I will put money on it that some idiot is going to want to start listening to their ipod while driving, reach over to the glove box and try to plug it in. I bet that will be the cause of more than one accident...

And I want better still.

[twitter]

I want my car to be an iTunes client. It should have wifi and 100GB, and should sync whenever I pull into the garage

Not a bad start, but I'd rather have Amarok. Why not? Amarok is free after all. The iTunes does not do as much and will cost them money to license. Oh yeah, they could throw in a satellite network so you can sync from anywhere, games, a browser, Noatun and touch screens for the rear seats so your passengers can watch get their web fix, watch movies or play games on the way to work. One modern computer should be able to handle all of that or smaller devices could simply be networked. The hardware should be cheap enough by now and all of the software is just as free as Amarok. 100GB would be nice for movies, but you don't really need all of that if your sync works right. A firewire hook up should fix the storage problem at zero cost to the manufacturer and most people would plant a 250 GB drive.

The only think keeping the above from working right now is the greedy ball that is music and movie publishing. They want everything locked down and that's why you are seeing expensive commercial junk being installed when free stuff has been available for ages. At the very least, they could give you a freaking wire! Feel the full price of exclusive franchise multiplied by the government protected and union dominated auto industry. Markets without competition truly suck life.

While those idiot continue to fight about who's going to be the first to sell you a $250 jack, I'll keep plugging my Zaurus and my cheap mp3 player into the audio in jack of the $200 stereo I bought at WalMart.