Ford Reportedly Said “No Thanks” to Apple’s Siri
By Brandon Russell | +
Ford and Siri aren’t on speaking terms right now. Not after the automaker ostensibly rejected Apple’s invitation to integrate the voice technology in Ford’s vehicles. So far Toyota, GM, Mercedes, BMW, Honda and Audi have already partnered with Apple, which is expected to roll out Siri integration to cars in about a year. So why isn’t Siri being embraced by Ford?
Simple: Differentiation. “If all cars feature reliable voice recognition, there will be one less reason to choose Ford,” Forbes wrote. A cynic would say that perhaps Ford doesn’t believe its vehicles are good enough to compete. But Ford, which comes with SYNC, already has an exclusive joint venture with Microsoft, so the automaker already has the tools to do battle in the world of connected cars.
However, with over 70 million iPhones sold to date, that’s a lot of potential car owners without the future option for integrated Siri. (Yes, we know that not all 70 million iPhones have Siri.) It’s a gamble for Ford, but the company is apparently ready to fight.
[via Forbes]
