Feature

Parrot fits Ford

Bluetooth specialist Parrot finished FY 2006 with a very strong performance

Revenues for the year more than doubled to E167m, net income was E7.7m. For 2007 the company says it will be strengthening its OEM business, establishing its ‘home’ range with dedicated music and photo products to follow on from the Photo Viewer photo frame and the Boombox Bluetooth speakers, and extending its core handsfree kit range with at least three new products incorporating audio streaming and the latest signal processing technology.

On the OEM side, Parrot has just announced that some new models from Ford Spain will include its technology, allowing drivers to stream music from mobile phones, PDAs or MP3 players to the vehicle’s speakers. Ford Bluetooth Music – available as an option on Spanish Fiesta, Fusion, Focus and Focus C-Max models – allows handsfree control including answering, hanging up, navigating through the phone’s menus, turning the music on or off and selecting a track. When a call comes in while the music is playing, it will automatically mute and resume once the call is ended.

Parrot has a similar deal for some Renault models.