Car Tech Tuesdays: Ford and Best Buy Get in Sync

In a move that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, Ford has partnered with electronics retail giant Best Buy to help car owners connect their mobile phones with the automaker's Sync system.

Best Buy will be offering the service through its Best Buy Mobile division, which sells mobile phones and wireless plans, as well as through the retailer's Geek Squad, which also offers car electronics installation --  and sells competing aftermarket products.

Ford kicked off a pilot program at more than 30 Best Buy stores in Texas this month that allows consumers to check out Sync demos and Ford, Lincoln and Mercury owners to attend "clinics" to better understand how to use their phones with Sync. According to Ford, Best Buy Mobile plans to provide "thousands of specially trained associates" to not only offer Sync awareness and training, but to also track which mobile phones are compatible with Sync. Local Ford dealers will also participate and provide additional assistance.

While Ford poured unprecedented resources into training dealers when Sync launched two years ago -- and it's paid off since the system is an unqualified success and has helped the automaker sell cars -- it's equally unprecedented for an aftermarket retailer to join with a car company to help promote OEM electronics. But with the car audio aftermarket on the decline and portables like mobile phones and iPods dominating the dashboard, Best Buy apparently decided that it could improve its bottom line by getting in bed with Ford.

But the winners in this shotgun wedding are consumers. Or at least Ford/Lincoln/Mercury owners, since they'll have another resource to help with what should be the simple task of pairing a Bluetooth phone to a car -- but often is not.

Ford stresses that its local dealers will remain the "primary touch point" for consumers, and Best Buy Mobile will provide an additional resource for consumers who have car/phone compatibility issues. In addition, Best Buy will include the latest phone compatibility data in its monthly Best Buy Mobile Buyers Guide and show which new devices work with Sync, as verified by Best Buy's Geek Squad.

We would trust the Geek Squad over auto manufacturer's phone-compatibility sites anyway, which are typically outdated. If they exist at all.

Posted by

Doug Newcomb October 20, 2009, 3:00 AM

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Automotive Technology, Car Audio and Electronics, Car Tech Tuesdays, Ford, Mercury

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Best Buy, Ford, Sync