Associated Press
Ford Pulls Plug on Telematics Venture
Ford Motor Co. Pulls Plug on Telematics Joint Venture With Qualcomm Inc.
DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. pulled out of Wingcast LLC, its joint venture with Qualcomm Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News) to produce telematics services in vehicles, the automaker said Monday.
The decision means Wingcast will be dissolved, according to a statement from Qualcomm, which owns 15 percent of the venture. Wingcast's 200 workers learned late Monday that they were losing their jobs, Ford spokesman David Reuter said.
"Ford made the decision to stop funding the joint venture with Qualcomm as part of our back-to-basics efforts," Reuter said. "We felt continued funding of Wingcast was not in our best interests."
Ford, which owns 85 percent of the 1-year-old enterprise, has not given up on efforts to provide on-board electronic services similar to OnStar, operated by General Motors Corp., Reuter said.
The combination of changing technology and changing customer desires were the main two drivers behind Ford's decision, he said.
Wingcast was based on a wireless transmitting standard called Bluetooth which lets a user's cell phone to interact with a vehicle's electronics system using radio waves rather than wires, eliminating the need for costly on-board hardware or a separate service.
Ford had hoped to make Wingcast service available on 2003 model vehicles, but the service never got off the ground.
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