Back in June last year I visited Ford in Detroit and was really impressed with Ford’s SYNC and AppLink features and today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Ford announced SYNC and AppLink are coming to their European vehicles . Starting with the newly announced B-Max vehicle and rolling out to other models soon Ford will have its SYNC and AppLink system across there range of cars. It will be interesting to see what apps they get connected with AppLink, in the US they have apps like Pandora and Slacker so my guess it would be apps like Spotify here in the UK.
Here are the features from the US site:
SYNC AppLink“
Use your voice to control some of your favorite mobile apps while driving. Available on select models, SYNC AppLink is a program that lets you use select apps such as Pandora®138 internet radio from your supported smartphone with voice commands and buttons on your steering wheel. SYNC AppLink is available on 2011/2012 Fiesta and 2012 Mustang, Fusion, Expedition, Super Duty and F-150.
SYNC AppLink is compatible with select smartphone platforms.Click here to find out which mobile devices and versions of the applications are compatible. New apps will be supported by SYNC AppLink as they are added. Here are some of the great mobile apps that SYNC AppLink brings to SYNC already.
Create free stations based on the name of one of your favorite songs or artists and Pandora® will scan its entire world of analyzed music, recordings new and old, from well-known to completely obscure, to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you. You can get to your saved stations, skip songs and thumbs-up the ones you like, all using simple voice commands.
Receive updates on Twitter while you keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. SYNC® AppLink“ lets you control it all with the sound of your voice. Incoming tweets will be read to you over your car’s stereo system.
Stitcher™ SmartRadio142 lets you use simple voice commands to instantly play your favorite shows. You can personalize your listening experience by “stitching” together your favorite shows to create your own customized playlist for a seamless helping of entertainment. Create an ‘audio magazine’ of your favorite podcasts and radio shows, on demand. Choose from more than 5,000 shows in news, comedy, sports, talk and entertainment from brands as diverse as NPR, CNN, Fox, BBC World Service, Adam Carolla and more. Also discover new shows based on your past listening preferences with “Stitcher recommends.” Once you’ve gotten a collection of favorites, the process becomes entirely automatic. Fresh episodes are added as they become available.
iHeartRadio® 139, Clear Channel’s industry-leading digital radio service, delivers more than 800 of America’s favorite radio stations from 150 cities. iHeartRadio features commercial-free digital-only stations, specialized artist stations, non-music radio, national programming and celebrity-hosted channels. Through AppLink, you can select stations by city, genre, talk show personalities, or current top songs.
Simple voice commands allow you to search and play your favorite music. And with custom commands like “I love this” and “This rocks” personalizing your experience is a breeze. Slacker®Radio140 combines the knowledge of the nation’s leading music experts with your personal tastes to create the perfect radio stations. With over 150 expert-programmed stations including music, ESPN Radio sports, ABC News, comedy and more, you can personalize and enjoy your stations wherever you are.
Slacker Radio subscribers have the exclusive benefit of storing their favorite stations on their phone. You can listen to those cached stations, even without a wireless signal.
Enjoy the ultimate portable NPR®143 news experience with SYNC® AppLink.™ Using simple voice commands, you can hear the latest breaking news with hourly news updates, get local news from across the nation or play your favorite programs likeAll Things Considered, Car Talk and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! You can also pick stories by topic and select from 20 of the most popular NPR categories including politics,music and health. You can even create a playlist of stories to hear in any order — to listen to right away or later on. To personalize your experience even more, you can pause, skip or go back within and between stories.
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