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Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia, iTunes, iPhone, iPod classic, Music

Ford to offer iTunes tagging in their cars

Just as 2009 was ending, Ford announced that they'll be offering a new option in their cars for 2010: the ability to "tag" any songs you happen to hear on the radio for later purchase in iTunes. It'll be an option, so it won't come standard in the new Taurus you buy, but if you opt for the HD Radio, the stereo will have a "tag" button that will capture the information of whatever you're hearing, sync it to your connected iPod and then bring it up for purchase in iTunes the next time you're at your computer. It sounds like a win-win for everybody: Ford gets to sell HD Radios, radio stations get more listener involvement, and Apple and the music companies get your sales (presuming you complete the purchase).

It'd be nice to have the song automatically sent to iTunes (or even transmitted via Bluetooth to your iPhone -- maybe even via an official app -- next time it happens to be near the car), but one step at a time, I guess. Don't forget that you don't even need this option to mark any music you happen to hear: if you have an iPhone, you can use Shazam's iPhone app to listen in, tell you whatever the song is, and save it for purchase later if you want. It's a free download in iTunes, lots cheaper than a brand new car.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate, Steve Jobs

Continuity: Executive succession plans in history

We all know that Steve Jobs will eventually leave Apple, and Apple's executive team has a responsibility to draft a succession plan to help minimize the turmoil when that day comes. To figure out what Apple might do, we can look to the past for other examples.

Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford. In 1918, at the age of 55, Henry handed the presidency of the company to his son Edsel. When Edsel died in 1943, Henry came back to Ford Motor Company ill, "mentally inconsistent, suspicious, and generally no longer fit" for the job.

Most of the board didn't want him to be president. Even with no official title, he'd been in de facto control of the company since Edsel took over. Nevertheless, the board elected him (rather than cross him), and he served until the end of the second World War. Gravely ill, he turned control of the company over to his grandson, Henry Ford II, in 1945. Henry Ford died two years later.

Steve Jobs has four children, the oldest of whom is Lisa Brennan-Jobs, a 30-year-old journalist. None have publicly expressed any desire to run Apple.

Continue readingContinuity: Executive succession plans in history

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends

2008 Ford Escape offers "standard" iPod jack

What struck me about this article about the 2008 Ford Escape was the following line: "The instrument panel houses audio and climate controls, a standard MP3/iPod audio jack, and controls for the available heated seats and in-dash navigation system." Not only has the MP3 audio jack become standard, but the iPod gets listed coequally with MP3. Is the iPod about to become the next kleenex, jello, or bandaid as a proprietary eponym? Has the iPod reached that level of popularity where it has been absorbed into the buying public's mind as the standard unit of portable media playback? I'm sure the guys from Auto Spectator wouldn't have listed the iPod-compliance of the audio jack if they didn't think it would connect with their audience.

Filed under: Apple Corporate, iPod Family

iPod appears in Ford ad

The practice of aligning your own product with another cool device is nothing new. Check out this ad for the Ford Fusion. It starts, oddly enough, with a full-on shot of an iPod. Some sort of odd "bubbles" float out of the iPod, through the air and eventually into the Fusion, as if to say, "Watch as the iPod's 'coolness' is transferred into our car."

It's Ford's intention to reach that coveted 25-35 year old demographic with the spot, and "...[it] plays into that generation's love of technology and their love of music. Also, the iPod is so iconic that people stop to watch the ad," says Linda Perry-Lube, car communications manager for Ford. So now the iPod itself is being used to sell other items. As Slate notes, " [that's] because people think it's a new iPod ad."

So, what's the effect on you, the consumer? Does the Fusion seem cooler, or does the iPod seem less so having been pawned out like this?

[Via AdJab]

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