Allan Mulally, CEO of Ford
Ford and Microsoft introduced Sync, the in-car communication system, in 2008. Yesterday at the Consumers Electronic Show in Las Vegas, Ford’s CEO Allan Mulally announced an updated version with a long list of new features for the successful Ford feature.
On top of increased voice recognition capabilities, Internet radio, maps and personal settings is a Twitter feature.
The feature reads Twitter messages to the driver and Mulally said that eventually the voice recognition technology in the Sync will allow drivers to dictate their responses and even their own Twitter updates.
Concerns are being raised about the danger of increased distractions for drivers. Doug VanDagens, Ford’s Global Director of Connected Services responded by saying that driver’s already read their Twitter feeds but because Sync reads the messages, drivers will be able to keep their hands on the wheel.
Ford has been very successful with their ability to recognize the influence of social media in today’s culture. They’ve created successful social media campaigns like Fusion 41 and the Fiesta Movement.
The updated Sync will be included in 2010 Ford models.
Ford to include twitter integration: http://bit.ly/8vjg4Y Pretty cool. What do you think?
Ford to includes twitter integration in 2010 models: Pretty cool or dangerous, what do you think? http://bit.ly/8vjg4Y
RT @boalt: Ford to includes twitter integration in 2010 models: Pretty cool or dangerous, what do you think? http://bit.ly/8vjg4Y
RT @boalt: Ford to includes twitter integration in 2010 models: Pretty cool or dangerous, what do you think? http://bit.ly/8vjg4Y
#Ford to include twitter integration: Pretty cool. What do you think? http://bit.ly/8vjg4Y
good point about this – there is something i am confused about though – what is so successful about the fiesta movement? they have been tooting their horn about this for almost a year – and still there is no fiesta – there is a shelf life with everything – they jumped on this way too early – or else there were some kind of ridiculous delays that no one was told about. thanks – dan
It is hard to gauge. We think of it as successful because it succeeded at creating a conversation, starting buzz and got people talking about Ford. It was great word of mouth. We have yet to see how they has transferred into car sales but people are talking about Ford. And it’s the right age group for marketers. I think Ford is thinking long term with this one. We’ll have to see what is happening.