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

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.

Bah

[Anonymous Coward]

Why can't they put a USB port in the cars instead, or even AUX inputs or stereo minijacks? If Ipods ever phase out of the mainstream, we're going to have a mountain of proprietary crap just because Apple refuses to use a standard, widely accepted connector.

Being the owner of other brands of players (superior sounding, at that), I find how everyone only supports Ipod very frustrating.

A USB port could have other potential uses, too. For instance, adding a hard drive unit that could interface with the audio controls, that would enable you to truly bring your music collection wherever you go. Or, quickly charging other devices via USB. The possibilities would be endless.

Re:Bah

[Mattintosh]

I find how everyone only supports Ipod very frustrating

Ahhh... yes. Mac users' revenge. I speak for Mac users everywhere when I say, "Cry me a river."

Re:Glove compartment?

[NMerriam]

Because people want to put it in there, close it, and have it completely invisible to thieves. You have to break into the car and pry open the glove compartment to even know if there's an iPod in there. Several aftermarket units already locate the iPod there for these reasons, and because it's usually an easy place to access all the wiring and the car's antenna if you want to do a passthrough.

I agree, I'd like to have a slot I loaded my iPod into (I even started building one a few years ago), but it's not like putting it in the glove compartment is some crazy counter-intuitive place that nobody would ever want.