Ford Delays Launch of Wingcast Telematics Service Until Mid-2002
Drivers wanting to be part of Ford Motor Co.’s vision of
‘a truly mobile lifestyle,’ where information is seamlessly
transported between their home, office, and vehicle, will have to
stand in line a little while longer, at least to mid-2002.
Unveiled last July, Wingcast is a joint venture by Ford and
Qualcomm. The telematics
service was to transform the automobile into the next mobile
portal; it would bring customers seamless access to applications and
services including communication, information, navigation,
entertainment, safety features along with a compatible mobile
device, the company said last summer.
However, the vision is more complex technically than first
realized. Ford spokesman Chris Vineyard told Reuters that Wingcast
technology is more complicated and said the company would prefer a
short delay in the launch to get it right.
Once deemed as the long awaited challenger to GM’s OnStar,
which was launched in 1996 and now has over one million subscribers
and is available on 32 GM cars, Wingcast will have to work hard to
catch-up. While Ford and Qualcomm technicians work on getting it
right, OnStar continues to line up its forces. Just recently Subaru
of America signed on with OnStar to bring the telematics service to
its OutBack by 2003. OnStar said that it plans to release new
services such as Personal Calling, for hands-free calling, and
Virtual Advisor, for personalized Web information.
It now remains to be seen how close Ford comes to meeting its
goal of having Wingcast on over one million vehicles by the end of
2002 and three million by the end of 2003, the company said last
July.
Then again delaying the launch may be in Ford’s best interest.
With some industry observers saying that OnStar is losing money
because the consumer is not ready to pay out monthly fees for such
services, Ford may be in a position next year to capitalize on any
shift in consumer spending habits. But, of course, this will require
reining in the marketing professional to educate Ford customers, who
are not already waiting in line, to the lifestyle benefits and
safety features of the telematics service.
For more information: http://www.wingcast.com/company/vision.htm
Mobileinfo Comments and Advisory: Telematics (in-car
computing) introduces a journey. It will take a few years before you
get all the advertised functions. It might cost Ford a few
percentage points in market share of the high-end market. But then
Ford has bigger problems with its Firestone tire fiasco. As far as
making money, we wonder who told whom that they will make money in
Telematics the very first year. Look for the long-term ROI.
