Germany’s BMW did it two years ago. Acura, Ferrari, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and other import car-makers followed suit in 2005. Now Ford and General Motors plan to get with the program. Apple Computer is teaming up with GM, Ford, and Mazda, to add built-in integration of its iPod digital audio player to most American-made car models in 2007.

The new alliances with North America’s No. 1 (GM) and No. 2 (Ford) automakers mean the wildly popular iPod will now be compatible with more than 70 per cent of all new 2007 model vehicles sold in the United States, Apple announced today.

According to Apple, GM and Mazda will offer built-in iPod options on all new models, and Ford will offer it on many of its Ford and Lincoln Mercury models later this year.

The partnership with Apple is part of a growing effort by Ford and other car companies to make it easier on drivers to access a variety of gadgets, such as cellphones, GPS navigation systems and digital audio players, while on the road.

“Consumers are listening to music, they’re messaging each other, and they want to engage in all those activities in their vehicles,” says Doug VanDagens, director of Ford’s product and business development in the electronics group.

Ford says it will offer the iPod integration as a dealer-installed option called TripTunes Advanced. List price will be $200 (US) plus installation. An adapter that doubles as a battery-charging station will go in either the glove compartment or the center storage console. Users will be able to control the iPod through buttons on the steering wheel or the radio. Playlists, artists, and other song information will also show on the car audio deck’s display screen.

Ford also plans to add auxiliary audio input jacks on nearly half of its lineup, starting this fall, to accommodate additional audio playback devices.

GM says it will offer its iPod-only setup called Personal Audio Link (PAL) at dealerships for all 56 of its models. The PAL will sell for less than $160 (US) plus installation.

“We know our music-loving customers have been clamouring for a system like this, but we were determined not to go into the market with one unless it was truly integrated, easy to use and affordable,” comments Nancy Philippart, executive director of GM accessories. “I think this system will be music to our customers’ ears.”

Both GM and Ford hope the iPod integration will help bolster their mindshare with younger car buyers. Both carmakers have struggled to attract young consumers in recent years.

Wakeside, the Portland, OR retailer of wakeboard boat accessories and enhancements, has added a full line of boat audio gear to its offerings.

Already well known for an extensive lineup of wakeboard towers, racks, lights, and tower speakers, it was only natural for Wakeside to add amplifiers, subwoofers, component speakers, and CD/MP3 receivers to go along with their high-end wakeboard boat accessories.

To drive today’s high-end tower speakers, a power amplifier is a must. Many wakeboarders want to hear the music clear and loud while they ride. The power output of most receivers is simply not adequate to get the great sound and high volumes desired from modern tower speaker systems.

For example, the Boss Accessories B-530, MB Quart based tower speaker system can handle a whopping 250 watts RMS per side at 2 ohms. To accommodate these types of power needs, Wakeside has added four lines of power amplifiers from Phoenix Gold, Kicker, Rockford Fosgate, and MTX.

Most riders are not satisfied with just hearing the sound while they ride – they want to “feel” the music and watch the ripples come off of the side of the boat from those reverberating bass notes. This means one or more subwoofers, and a subwoofer enclosure or a self contained subwoofer system. To meet this requirement, Wakeside has added four lines of subwoofers from Kicker, Rockford Fosgate, Infinity, and JL Audio.

Subwoofers can range from eight to fifteen inches, and some models can handle up to 1,000 watts RMS continuous, 2,000 watts peak! Of course you will need another amplifier to power the subwoofer: not to worry, many models are available with mono, stereo, or multi-channel that can be bridged to power the demanding thirst for power that these subwoofers create.

Many wakeboard boats come equipped with two, four, or even six coaxial speakers from the factory. Unfortunately, some of the manufacturers use either marine grade or substandard quality speakers that just don’t sound like the high-end car audio speakers that many have become accustomed to. Wakeside offers only the best for your boating needs, with the addition of MB Quart, Kicker, Infinity, and Rockford Fosgate component and coax speakers. No cheap stuff here – the offering starts at the middle and extends all the way to the very top!

If you need to upgrade your CD/MP3 receiver, then Wakeside also offers both Sony and Pioneer units. An MP3-equipped receiver can play up to 200 tunes from a single CD.

Wakeside has three mobile audio experts on their sales team to help you design your system and select your boat audio equipment. They can also put a package deal together for you if you are building a whole system. If you need help with installation, Wakeside offers professional mobile installation on the West Coast from Seattle to San Diego.

If you are ready to hear and feel the tunes, Wakeside.com is ready to help you to create an incredible system to improve your ride.

Wakeside Web Site

Rockford Corporation announced today that their new wireless digital media transfer system, Omnifi™, was a CES 2003 showstopper. After winning the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) 2003 Best of Innovations award in the Mobile Electronics category, it followed up with TechTV’s Best of CES in the Auto, Marine, and RV category.

TechTV’s Best of CES focuses on the best new products that are exhibited at CES 2003. TechTV describes award recipients as “the products … most likely to be coveted by consumers in the coming year.” Only twelve products out of the thousands of products on display at the show are awarded this prize.

“We are extremely pleased with the reception and overwhelming popularity Omnifi received at the 2003 CES from dealers, reps, and the media,” exclaims Gary Suttle, Rockford’s president and chief executive officer. “It was very rewarding to see that all of the hard work put into this product by the teams at Rockford and SimpleDevices has been acknowledged. We couldn’t be happier.”

With software from SimpleDevices, Inc. and hardware from Rockford Fosgate, Omnifi eliminates the need to burn CDs to listen to digital music in the car, and gives consumers the ability to download and transfer music and programs from the Internet to the PC hard drive to the consumer’s car and home stereo/theater systems.

“Omnifi was distinctive at the show because it allows the consumer to deliver a wide-range of Internet-based digital media from the PC to their automobile and/or home stereo/theater, making this product the most powerful and flexible digital wireless entertainment platform on the market today,” explains Craig Janik, CTO of SimpleDevices.

“SimpleDevice’s SimpleWare™ and SimpleCenter™ software leverages industry standards, such as 802.11 and Universal Plug and Play (UpnP), to extend home networking technology beyond the PC or home gateway to a wide variety of digital device applications. No other company currently offers wireless transfer capability this simple and effective.”

Omnifi is a family of connected devices based on the SimpleWare software suite. In the Omnifi system, these software applications give consumers the ability to manage their media in one simple, yet powerful media player application, SimpleCenter and then wirelessly deliver it to Omnifi devices that connect to the stereo or are installed in the car.

SimpleWare is the only connected device software on the market that enables the delivery of local and Internet-based music, radio streams, information updates and other types of media files to a variety of products. The Omnifi system allows consumers to manage all of their media in one location, and then access it at their stereo or in their automobile.

The Omnifi mobile system consists of a remote-mounted, drop resistant, 20-Gigabyte storage unit, an ARM7 microprocessor, and an easy-to-use 1-DIN front mounted controller.

The Omnifi home audio/home theater product consists of a stand-alone receiver capable of streaming media dispatched from the personal computer and an optional wireless access point that allows 802.11B wireless transmission and receipt of the media.

Omnifi should be available in April 2003 at a suggested retail price of $599 (US).

Rockford Fosgate Web Site

More CES 2003 News

For the second year running, Bantam Interactive has been selected as the Consumer Electronics Association’s Innovations Design and Engineering Award Honoree, this time for both its BA50 and BA1000 portable MP3 devices. The Innovations Awards program recognizes products that exhibit excellence in design and engineering at the International CES. Bantam’s products will be on display with other Innovations winners at the Las Vegas Hilton during the show on January 9-12, 2003.

The BA1000 is a full-featured portable hard drive player with a built-in MP3 encoder for in-line stereo recording directly from a cassette, CD or album, without a PC. Combined with FM radio and voice recording capabilities, it offers the first customizable horizontal or vertical LCD with white backlight. The BA1000 includes USB 2.0 technology to transfer files up to 40 times quicker than standard USB 1.0 port connections.

Bantam Interactive’s fist-sized BA50 is a multi-format digital audio player with FM radio and voice recording capabilities. Priced at $79.99, the device comes equipped with 64MB of built- in flash memory and a SD (Secure Digital) card expansion slot. It uses a single AA battery for 12 hours of playback.

“Being consistently recognized by CES is a positive endorsement that our MP3 players are a cut above our competitors,” said Santosh Patel, president of Bantam Interactive, Inc.

“Last year, we were the first company to bring home two awards in the same category in the same year. Our reputation is built on innovation and consumers will continue to see cutting edge technology and design in our next generation digital audio and video products.”

About Bantam Interactive

Bantam Interactive Technologies, Inc. is an emerging developer in Web-enabled audio and visual technology. The company’s mission is to develop, manufacture and distribute market leading personal audio and video devices that provide customers with performance, value, unique features and innovative, ultra compact bantam-sized design. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.

Bantam Interactive Web Site