Remember Microsoft"s Blue&Me project with Fiat, the one that equipped select models with an in-car computer system with all kinds of connectivity functionality?
Well, we"ve learned from a source close to Microsoft"s car-computer project that Microsoft and Ford are planning to announce the US availability of the system in 2007, no doubt with coinciding announcements at CES and the NAIAS (aka Detroit auto show).
We don"t yet have all the details nailed down, but the system (currently dubbed Blue&Me, although we can"t confirm that will be the US market name) will have cross-platform smartphone support (i.e. not just Windows Mobile) with Bluetooth, SAP (i.e. SIM Access Profile for contact downloads, voice dialing, etc.), and all the fixins.
No word yet on whether it"ll support Sideshow, all the fun TBox stuff like GPS and car diags, or be available for non-Ford and/or aftermarket installs, but we"ll all know more come CES.