Ford vehicles with SYNC AppLink can listen to their personalized music and comedy channels on Pandora completely free of advertising.
With a smartphone connected to SYNC, Ford drivers can launch Pandora by pressing the voice button on the steering wheel and saying “mobile applications” and “Pandora” at the prompts. With Pandora running, drivers can select from their existing personalized stations or create new ones on the fly without taking their hands off the wheel or their eyes off the road.
“It’s been great to have Pandora along for the ride as we built our AppLink development platform over the past several years,” said Doug Van Dagens, Ford global director of connected services. “Ford customers love both AppLink and Pandora, and we’re excited that through this partnership, they will be able to enjoy their favorite personalized radio stations on the road ad-free through the end of 2013.”
SYNC AppLink is the industry-first connectivity interface that enables drivers to directly control compatible mobile apps using simple voice commands. Pandora – the first app enabled to work with AppLink when Ford introduced it in 2010 – recently surpassed the 200 million registered users milestone and now streams tracks from more than 100,000 artists per month. More than 69 million users access Pandora at least once every month and more than 140 million have used the mobile app on a smartphone or tablet.
There are more than 30 apps compatible with SYNC AppLink available on the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms, with more on the way.
