Jan. 7, 2014—Ford announced Tuesday that it will host the “first-ever” automotive mobile application developer conference in Dearborn, Mich., this June.
The Ford Developer Conference will be held in conjunction with the annual Further with Ford trend conference that also takes place in Dearborn. The conference will teach mobile app developers about the latest capabilities of Ford SYNC AppLink, and how to utilize development tools from Ford engineers.
"More than ever, consumers are getting organized, entertained, and informed through their Internet-connected smartphones and tablets," said Jim Farley, Ford executive vice president of global marketing, sales, service, and Lincoln. "Drivers expect to be able to take advantage of that capability in the car.”
Ford SYNC AppLink is in more than 1.5 million vehicles in North America, and will launch globally in Europe and Asia later this year. Last week, Ford announced 3.4 million more SYNC-equipped vehicles currently on the road will qualify for a downloadable upgrade to add AppLink capability later this year.
Prior to the conference, developers will have a chance to earn SYNC technology development kits and one-on-one support from Ford engineers through a mobile app competition available on the Ford website that runs from Jan. 8 through Feb. 7.
