By Dina Bass
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. will team with Ford Motor Co. to provide drivers with voice-activated software that helps them make mobile phone calls and play songs stored on digital music players.
Ford will offer the system, called Sync, in a dozen 2008 models, including the Ford Explorer and Focus, Velle Kolde, product manager for Microsoft's automotive business unit, said in an interview. Ford, the second-largest automaker in the U.S., will expand that to all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars in 2009.
The agreement is the largest ever for the decade-old unit, helping Microsoft, the largest software maker, expand further beyond the home and office for potential customers. Ford is seeking to attract more buyers with new features as its share of car and light truck sales dwindles in the U.S.
Kolde declined to disclose terms of the agreement. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft will provide details on the agreement at the Consumer Electronics Show today in Las Vegas, while Ford will promote the software at a press conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Ford's U.S. car and light-truck sales slid 8 percent last year, more than triple the industrywide 2.6 percent decrease. Ford, based in Dearborn, Michigan, has said its goal is to prevent its U.S. share of sales of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands from falling below 14 percent to 15 percent.
Those brands captured 16.4 percent of the market in 2006, down from 17.4 percent the year before, according to Autodata Corp.
Talk to the Car
Microsoft's software only works with cellphones that have a Bluetooth wireless connection, which lets drivers use the phone even if it's located in a pocket or purse. Drivers can tell the phone to dial entries in their address book or any phone number using buttons on the steering wheel and voice commands.
Sync will work with digital music players such as Microsoft's Zune and Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod, Kolde said. Drivers can request specific artists and tracks by name.
Microsoft sold similar software last year to Fiat SpA, Kolde said.
The company's shares fell 17 cents to $29.64 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Jan. 5. Ford stock dropped 8 cents to $7.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.
To contact the reporters on this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at