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Ford Said to Swap BlackBerry�s QNX for Microsoft in Sync System

Ford Motor Co. (F), struggling with in-car technology glitches, will base the next-generation Sync system on BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY)�s QNX and no longer use Microsoft (MSFT) Corp.�s Windows, according to people briefed on the matter.

Using QNX will be less expensive than licensing Microsoft technology and will improve the flexibility and speed of the next Sync system, said the people, who declined to be identified because the decision hasn�t been made public. Ford has more than 7 million vehicles on the road with Sync using Microsoft voice-activated software to make mobile phone calls and play music.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, who was said to be a candidate to become Microsoft�s CEO until early this year, has seen Ford slump in surveys by J.D. Power & Associates and Consumer Reports, with customers citing malfunctioning tech systems and touch screens. The second-largest U.S. automaker has said the quality of its vehicles have been �mixed� each of the past three years and fell short of its plan to improve those results in 2013.

Improving Sync is crucial for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford to draw car shoppers who are increasingly looking to be connected at all times. In-vehicle technology is the top selling point for 39 percent of auto buyers, more than twice the 14 percent who say their first consideration is traditional performance measures such as power and speed, according to a study by the consulting firm Accenture released in December.

Jay Cooney, a Ford spokesman, didn�t immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages left outside of normal business hours. Peter Wootton, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft who works for Waggener Edstrom, declined to comment. Paul Leroux, a spokesman for QNX, declined to comment.

The Ford and Lincoln brands ranked Nos. 26 and 27 out of 28 brands in Consumer Reports� annual auto-reliability survey released in October. While the Lincoln luxury line matched the industry average in J.D. Power�s Initial Quality study in June, the namesake finished 27th out of 33 brands.

Technology companies are battling for a greater presence in vehicles. Google Inc. announced an alliance with General Motors Co., Honda Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co. and chipmaker Nvidia Corp. in January to bring the Android operating system to cars. Apple Inc. is working with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Daimler AG�s Mercedes-Benz, Nissan Motor Co. and others to introduce its iOS operating system to cars with devices such as the iPhone.

BlackBerry�s QNX Software Systems can be found in cars made made by Volkswagen AG�s Audi unit and BMW, according to its website. QNX and Microsoft are the main suppliers of automotive operating system software, according to researcher IHS iSuppli.

BlackBerry, at the time named Research in Motion Ltd. (BB), bought QNX Software Systems for $200 million in 2010. In addition to its presence in cars, QNX technology is used to manage nuclear-power plants and by the U.S. military for unmanned aerial drones. Its customers include Cisco Systems Inc., General Electric Co. and Caterpillar Inc.

Ford Said to Swap BlackBerry’s QNX for Microsoft in Sync System - Bloomberg

Pretty awesome news if true.

[raino]

Holy poorly worded headlines.

[calivol]

Holy poorly worded headlines.

No kidding. Just saw a similar article in road and track. Good news for BlackBerry.

Posted via CB10

[TioPepe78]

Holy poorly worded headlines.

Agreed, I understand the tittle as the opposite.

[lengend]

Well that sucks for my 2013 Ford Fusion. The recent update fixed some performance issues but it's still a bit sluggish.

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[36dbldz]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...20033/-1/rss23

Ford seen ditching Microsoft for Blackberry in future cars

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[Kobe Barksdale]

Only Detroit News got the Headline right.

Posted via CB10

[app_Developer]

That's actually a huge failure for Microsoft.

And a nice win for BB!

[lengend]

Damn it. I'm stuck with it




Posted via CB10

[UnlimitedEra]

Gratz BlackBerry!

Posted Via CB10 Running On Z10STL100-2 Using OS Version 10.2.1.2141

[itsyaboy]

Hope this becomes official soon, because this would be great news.

Posted via CB10

[trsbbs]

Good news is so refreshing!

CB10 via Verizon Z10. 10.2.1.1925

[mikeo007]

Sync was actually great when it first came out. It's a shame they let it go to crap. It was Ford that built the system on top, so I hope they don't make a mess with QNX as well.

[gtredman]

These Organizations are so bent on pulling Blackberry down that even the good new that they are forced to admit or publish the skewer it so if you only skim the headlines you think negatively about blackberry this is a horrible Headline. if you swap something for something else you are actually replacing it with something else so the headline is backward. but we will live with the reality if it holds out. One Enterprise customer at a time one car company at a time BB will crawl out of that hole!

[cgk]

Very good news for BBRY and prove that Chen's plan to distance the company from hardware is the right one.

[neteng1000]

Very good news for BBRY and prove that Chen's plan to distance the company from hardware is the right one.

I'm not so sure he's distancing himself away from hardware. Only time will tell

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[LostOnThePianoRoll]

It's funny how the title meant the complete opposite of the article, you nearly got me there

Posted via CB10 on my Z10STL100-10.2.1.2102

[sentimentGX4]

That's actually a huge failure for Microsoft.

And a nice win for BB!

Embedded systems is not a big a deal as Crackberry makes it out to be. Aside from the marginal profits, these type of OS changes happens all the time. I doubt Microsoft blinked.

[donmateo]

It's Bloomberg, no wonder they worded the title like that.

Awesome news for BB, though! I wonder what the emblem will say now.

[neteng1000]

Embedded systems is not a big a deal as Crackberry makes it out to be. Aside from the marginal profits, these type of OS changes happens all the time. I doubt Microsoft blinked.

Oh yeah? Is that why everyone is dying to tap that market? The actual embedded system may not be worth much but they will up sell everything else. All the add on's and tied-in components. Example : OTA updates, access to the NOC......BlackBerry hand set integration

Posted via CB10

[raino]

Embedded systems is not a big a deal as Crackberry makes it out to be. Aside from the marginal profits, these type of OS changes happens all the time. I doubt Microsoft blinked.

No disrespect, but what's your qualification that got you to this conclusion?

[Troy Tiscareno]

It's true that embedded systems don't make very much money per unit, especially since the car companies are making the custom UIs and doing the integration themselves. Consider how much money Microsoft makes on a copy of Windows ($99 gross, retail) vs. Office ($500 gross, retail). The underlying OS is necessary, but it's not what gets the real work done.

But neteng1000 is also right: once you have your OS in cars, there are potential opportunities to leverage that into more sales, just like Microsoft leveraging Windows to get people to buy Office. Now, potential isn't the same as assured, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing. BB is doing well in growing QNX-for-Cars.

[fast666]

Good News.

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ChannelX C000D3759 We promote channels

[app_Developer]

Embedded systems is not a big a deal as Crackberry makes it out to be. Aside from the marginal profits, these type of OS changes happens all the time. I doubt Microsoft blinked.

I agree it's not a big revenue loss for Microsoft, but at the same time Microsoft put a lot of their brand into this partnership. To have Ford walk away because of user complaints is a big failure.


Sent from my iPhone 5S using Tapatalk

[Azensun]

I'm pretty excited. I have Sync in my car now and while it does a fairly good job of integrating with my BlackBerry, I'm more eager to see what QNX can do.