NEWS
This year's Geneva Motor Show will see Fiat debuting its Microsoft-equipped cars.
Fiat and Microsoft, who have been working together since 2004, are taking the wraps off a number of models sporting a new product known as Blue&Me, based on the Windows Mobile for Automotive operating system.
Blue&Me allows Alfa Romeo and Fiat owners to connect their in-car systems to their phones and other gadgets using Bluetooth, with data displayed on a panel controlled by buttons in the steering wheel.
The new motors will also come sporting USB ports, to connect drivers' MP3 players to their cars.
Fiat and Microsoft are also working on a version of the Blue&Me software that will work with GPS satellite navigation. It's expected to be in the wild by the end of this year.
Comments
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1. misceng
Microsoft Autoroute tells me to take the nearby ferry across the Thames for any drive to the North. This ferry operates in the summer only and has the capacity for six people and possibly a bicycle. GPS under Microsoft control is much too risky.
2. anonymous
Ha-ha!!
Fiat's/Alfa's are bottom of all reliability survey's at present (Top Gear, JD Power etc...), before Windows 'Auto' crashes add to their woes!!!
My Dell PDA, running Windows Mobile 2003 and Tom Tom 5, needs a weekly pen poke at the soft reset button.
3. Graham Coles
Comes with an "intel inside" badge and is only available in one colour: Screen of death Blue :-)
Will it come with a "Runs for sure" sticker?
I think this is a really bad idea; I myself can already think of enough jokes to last the rest of the decade ... I'll refrain from posting them to save the country groaning too much.