AMERICAN carmaker Ford is making further inroads into China's in-car communication and entertainment sector by launching its SYNC AppLink software to link smartphone applications with the infotainment system in cars.
SYNC AppLink is compatible with the nine popular mobile applications used in China, including Baidu Maps and Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, Ford said yesterday.
The carmaker expects to involve more third parties to develop software for SYNC AppLink and test the usability of their apps before uploading them to the system.
"We understand that a vibrant app ecosystem is essential to the success of a platform for both users and developers," said Kumar Galhotra, vice president of product development for Ford Asia Pacific. "We also understand that the developer community can bring new capabilities to our customers much faster than we could on our own."
To expand SYNC AppLink services in China, the world's largest auto market, Ford has teamed with Baidu to explore opportunities in app development, cloud services and location-based services. It also formed a partnership with telecom service provider China Unicom, which has leading 3G wireless technologies and more than 400 million subscribers.