Last year, Apple first announced the 'iOS in the Car' initiative at its World Wide Developer Conference. Now the company is living up to that promise by preparing to launch the program this week, by partnering with automakers such as Ferrari, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz.
The implementation of iOS into the dashboard of cars will open access to Apple iOS services such as Siri, iMessage, Maps, and iTunes. It's a not deep integration, but it should be good enough for Apple fans who want iTunes, and Apple Maps to be a central part of the dashboard of their vehicle.
There will be 17 car manufacturers in total to take advantage of what Apple is offering with iOS. This list includes, Chevrolet, Honda, Jaguar and Nissan.
While Apple Maps will be useful in helping drivers navigate through the traffic and find the shortest route possible to the destination, iOS in the Car will also enable the drivers to make hands-free calls, and receive and send out text messages with the help of Siri voice recognition platform. Other features include watching movies and listening to music. All these will be made possible because of the updated iOS 7 software, which allows the mobile platform to be built into the car's infotainment system for the first time.
This isn't the first time, however, that Apple has attempted to place its software and technology inside cars. The company first made such moves back in 2005 when it partnered with 3 car manufacturers to have iPods installed in their fleet of vehicles.
It was a far less ambitious plan compared to what the Cupertino giant is doing right now. It could very well put a sharp sting into Google's plan to get its services into every automobile it can, and it could also push Apple to the forefront of the connected car.
Apart from wearable gadgets, the connected car is the next battleground, and this evident due to Google's push for driverless cars, and Nokia's plan to focus on getting HERE Maps and services into cars after the Microsoft buyout of its hardware business goes through.
