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Ford Abandons Microsoft for BlackBerry's QNX

posted by Dopefish on Sunday February 23 2014, @08:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the color-me-surprised dept.

joekiser writes "In 2010, Ford Motor Company was rated as top-five automotive manufacturer in terms of quality, per J.D. Power and Associates. This was a major turnaround for the automotive giant, which had faced bankruptcy just two years prior. This high reliability rating would be short lived however; Ford began installing touch screen hubs powered by Microsoft SYNC, which were both confusing and buggy.

By 2012, Ford quality rankings had dropped to 23rd, even after numerous software upgrades and a rebranding of SYNC to "MyFordTouch." One customer reported:

"The voice controls typically do not work until the vehicle has been on for five to 10 minutes, meaning short trips require dialing phone calls by hand, only to have the call cut off when the system finally starts up."

This slide continued into 2013, when Ford ranked 27th of 28 brands (as an aside, Ford's premium brand, Lincoln, ranked one slot higher that year at 26th).

Apparently, Ford Motor Company has had enough. On Friday, the Detroit News reported that Ford will make the switch to QNX on future vehicles. This is the same platform currently used by Acura, Audi, BMW, and Land Rover."

[ED Note: "Ford Motor Company's decision to move to QNX aside, I'll be heavily considering a Blackberry for my next phone, especially with rumors of a 64-bit octa-core model for later this year. BB10 also has gotten rave reviews for its design and ease-of-use."]

 
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  • (Score: 1) by linsane on Sunday February 23 2014, @10:19PM

    by linsane (633) on Sunday February 23 2014, @10:19PM (#5337)

    Absolutely, I think in this case there is quite a big step between a car o.s. and what might be a good choice (or even stimulate debate) with regard to a handset. Perhaps one to follow up on in the comments?

    Keep up the great work and hope you've all caught up on the missing sleep from last week!

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Dopefish on Sunday February 23 2014, @10:26PM

    by Dopefish (12) on Sunday February 23 2014, @10:26PM (#5340)

    Yeah. Going forward, I'll keep such notes like my mention of the BB phone in the comments and gauge the feedback that way.

    Thanks for the complement, linsane. I was up till 3 AM last night working on getting submissions approved, so we aren't out the woods entirely yet, but things have improved quite a bit since the launch. :)