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April 2, 2009 4:20 PM PDT
Ford picks Opera for in-dash Web browsing
Check out the Opera icon in the top left corner.
(Credit: Ford Motor Company)Earlier today, we reported that Ford is bringing Sprint 3G broadband to its Ford Work Solutions technology suite for F-series and E-series trucks and work vans. This is great news, but it got our inner-geek wondering, "What browser does a Ford truck run?"
It turns out that Ford has chosen a mobile version of the Opera browser to power its in-dash Web experience.
Rod Hamlin, Senior Vice President Americas for Opera Software, said:
"Opera's vision has always been about giving people access to the full Web anytime, anywhere. No example showcases this better than delivering a fast, feature-rich Web browser to a vehicle. This solution will allow Ford truck and van owners to maintain a virtual work environment with access to all of the important files, information, and applications they need on a daily basis."
For more information, visit Ford Work Solutions.
Kudos to Ford for allowing a true open source internet vehicle the opportunity to rise to the challenge along with their product.
That said it's an excellent browser, with lots of experiance in delivering an excellent mobile experiance.
Good going Opera.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Mulally
Yes it's better than going with Microsoft, I sincerely appreciate that, but Mozilla would have surely worked with Ford to get Mozilla Fennec into Ford's vehicles even if it is still in its first public beta.
Mozilla would have hired more developers and dumped more time and resources into Fennec if they were assured of a deal. No doubts about that.
I wonder how much more outsourcing Ford does to support foreign companies.
I'm all about having a healthy global economy, and it's nothing against foreign companies, but you have to take care of your own first before you can or should help others.
Ford and it's subsidiaries is an international brand.
The advance of good, solid and dependable products does not, nor should not, know any borders.
That said it's an excellent browser, with lots of experiance in delivering an excellent mobile experiance. Ford is sticking with a more proven technology that's availible now, rather than hope Mozilla can come up with something in time.
And all this foolishness about it being unfamiliar... Most desktop brosers work exactly the same. I replace people's IE with Firefox+ ABP all the time and they don't seem to notice. This is a mobile browser, which works similar, but still different. It would be "different enough" whether it was IE mobile, Opera mobile, Safari mobile. But still it's not that hard to pick up. Look at how many people already surf on Opera mobile, IE mobile (WinMo phones), Safari Mobile (iPhone, iPod touch), Black Berry, etc.
Here's the problem: the general public understands Internet Explorer or Safari; they are known quantities, widely-used and comfortable, although admittedly fallable. Consumers are very slow to accept products that they are not comfortable using, especially when two behemoths already dominate the marketplace. Ultimately, this will not drive sales of Ford products. More than likely, consumers will not want to learn the new interface, become frustrated, and begin searching for alternatives. Once Toyota or Honda swoop-in with Internet Explorer of Safari based solutions, adoption will be accelerated, and Ford will be once again out-manuvered.
Ford, congratulations on your foward thinking...too bad it still ignores the larger picture.
Learning Opera should be no more difficult than learning an interface for a GPS or mobile phone. I doubt that many people would even care who developed the browser as long as its intuitive.
I also cant see how someone would decide which car to buy based on their browser preference.
An as for quality of US automobiles an trucks, its right up there with the best of them. I give you J.D. Power an Accosiates.
And your solution will float only if Ford plans to deploy the system in F150's - maybe that's what they should whiddle their business model down to...at least that way they'd be profitable.
Do you work for Ford? Sounds to me like the typical arrogance and assumptions about "high quality" that has gotten them in this mess. For the record I never said that consumers won't be able to figure out Opera, I only claim that given the choice, they'll chose something they are familiar with. Maybe I'll take your suggestion and do some research while you pull your head out of your butt.
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080604-Honda-Civic-Now-America-s-Best-Selling-Vehicle/
If that isn't a sign of the sure decline of Mozilla's franchise, I don't know what is.
And oh, BTW - lots of people who contribute to Mozilla have never set foot in the USA either.
2. Chrome
3. Safari
4. IE
5. Opera
Yeah. It is that bad.
@Mark_DDS Due to Fords restructuring in the past 4 years the company has taken some charges. Ford was indeed profitable in 2007 to the tune of over 700 million. Also if you take a closer look at all automobile/truck manufactures, their loosing money and sales because of economic situations. Ford is planning to add a plug-in hybrid to the mix in 2012. Nancy Gioia, Ford Director of Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Vehicle Programs recently told reporters that prototypes of that vehicle have been getting the equivalent of up to 170 miles per gallon in testing. Not to mention Ford has a 60mpg clean diesel available in the E.U...
They certainly have not convince me that they have anything better. Adoption rate says a lot about a product.
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by shelji
April 4, 2009 8:26 AM PDT
- Very odd that Mark_DDS thinks people would be slow to accept Opera because IE and Safari "dominate the marketplace". IE may dominate the marketplace, but I really would not put Safari in the same category. While Macs have become more popular, the public at large had hardly an inkling as to what Safari was before the iphone. And they had no trouble adjusting to THAT. A majority of people still do not know what Safari is. I doubt the introduction of yet another easy-to-use, less-well-known browser will prove to be a mistake for Ford or stop someone from buying the car.
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