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Mr. Softy's Inside Your Dashboard

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz | More Articles
April 7, 2011 | Comments (2)

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Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT  ) continues to muscle its way into your car.

The world's largest software company announced a strategic partnership with Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM  ) yesterday, hoping to raise the bar on telematics.

Starting with next year's Toyota hybrids, Microsoft's Azure cloud platform will help serve up apps to aid navigation, energy management, and other multimedia goodies.

Mr. Softy is no stranger to in-dash entertainment. It hooked up with Ford (NYSE: F  ) to roll out voice-activated Sync functionality a few years ago. Microsoft was also already cozy with Toyota with the introduction of Toyota's Entune multimedia system during this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Entune uses Microsoft's Bing for navigation with 16 million points of interest. Drivers can also seamlessly buy movie tickets through MovieTickets.com or make dining reservations through OpenTable (Nasdaq: OPEN  ) without ever having to take their eyes off the road.

We may have to wait until next year to see the fruits of this week's Azure-based partnership, but it's never too early to begin assessing the losers.

Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN  ) , once again, will be raided of potential GPS gadget buyers. General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) , hoping to push its premium OnStar telematics platform on rival automakers, is going to face an uphill road. The Microsoft-Toyota partnership's telematics product is likely to be cheaper than OnStar, if it's not offered as a freebie to move more hybrids. Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI  ) may be at the mercy of some of the multimedia features that will be incorporated, but Sirius XM hasn't had a problem growing over the past year and a half as cars ramp up their in-dash entertainment systems.

Hitting the open road is becoming a more open-ended proposition. Investors better start brushing up on directions.

What do you think the in-dash experience will be like in a few years? Share your thoughts in the comment box below or add Microsoft to My Watchlist.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a Sirius subscriber and a Ford shareholder. He is also a member of the Rule Breakers analytical team, seeking out the next great growth stock early in its defiance. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

General Motors and Microsoft are Motley Fool Inside Value selections. OpenTable is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation. Ford Motor is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor choice. Motley Fool Options has recommended a diagonal call position on Microsoft. The Fool owns shares of Ford Motor and Microsoft. Motley Fool Alpha LLC owns shares of Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.


Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

  • Report this Comment On April 07, 2011, at 2:27 PM, pete163 wrote:

    The truth is that people are going to stick with something that has proved it self like Sirius XM and the rest is a joke for trying to get into a game that's already in the 9th inning. Stay Long Sirius XM and retire rich $$$$$$.

  • Report this Comment On April 07, 2011, at 2:58 PM, csulb2000alumni wrote:

    Arlington School """BOARD""" have trouble """assisting"""....I EVEN HELPED YOUR NATIVE TEXANS to the FINISH LINE...YOUR SCHOOL TEACHERS!! I DESERVE """SPA""" treatment because I earned it!! Have trouble assisting!!!

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