By Amy Gilroy
Ford (NYSE:F) announced it omitted the CD changer in its new Ford Focus for the European market and says the day is at hand when it will ditch the CD player altogether.
We referenced this story previously, but decided to give it some additional exploration.
Instead of the CD changer, the company is offering a Sync ‘infotainment hub’ that can accept a WiFi dongle on the all-new Ford Focus that lets drivers access their music library through the Internet through Internet Radio, or services like Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iCloud.
Sheryl Connelly, global trends and futuring manager at Ford, said “In-car entertainment technology is moving digital more rapidly than almost any other element of the vehicle experience.” She added, “The in-car CD player – much like pay telephones – is destined to fade away in the face of exciting new technology.”
The Ford comments were offered to the UK press, but a U.S. spokesman confirmed that the CD changer has also been scrapped in the U.S. on the MyFord Touch, and the trend away from the CD player is true in the U.S. as well.
“With MyFord Touch, we’re now down to a single CD player slot, versus having a multi-disc changer. But, we’ve increased the USB ports from 1 to 2, and added Bluetooth streaming audio, so that customers are able to easily connect their digital music players or stream music from their smartphones,” said the U.S. spokesman.
Ford isn’t ready to state when it will ditch the CD slot entirely. “We’re not announcing a specific model or time frame. We’re acknowledging the trend in consumers moving from CDs to digital music players,” he added.
Of course, the aftermarket has offered fully CD-less radios since 2007, led first by the IDA-X001 from Alpine, and later joined by decks from just about every key brand.
Source: Daily Mail, AM-Online, CEoutlook
Amy Gilroy is the Editor of CEoutlook and a Contributing Author to Market Playground and Satellite Radio Playground.
