Apple’s new software to be incorporated in the auto industry

Apple, the world’s largest technology company by market value, sees opportunity to gain advantage as automakers struggle to meet customer demands with safety concerns. BlackBerry’s QNX Software Systems and Microsoft are the main suppliers of automotive operating system software according to researcher IHS iSuppli, while Pandora is the top in-car music-streaming service.

Knowing many consumers already use iPhones as cheap substitutes for GPS navigation systems, automakers are willing to incorporate Apple’s technology to minimize driver distraction and increase customer satisfaction. Apple’s Siri is already built into General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Spark and Sonic small cars, where it experienced some difficulties and wasnt met very well by critics.

“It isn’t completely satisfying”, said Ron Montoya, the consumer-advice editor for Edmunds.com, an automotive data service in Santa Monica, California, who’s tested the Siri-enabled system in the Chevrolet Spark. “It works well enough for some things, but I personally think Siri doesnt work that well,” Montoya said in a phone interview for Bloomberg. “It frequently doesn’t recognize my voice.”

“Siri has not been designed for the car, where the cabin is often noisy,” said for Bloomberg, Chris Schreiner, a research director for consultant Strategy Analytics Inc. and a former engineer for GM’s OnStar telematics service. “Automakers tune voice systems for each car. Expecting Siri to work at the same level in every vehicle isnt practical.”

The new version of the software – Apple’s iOS 7, will be fully integrated into models made by GM, Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., Apple said last month. Icons familiar on iPhones and iPads will migrate to the center screen in cars. Apple’s new software includes the iTunes Radio streaming service, a competitor to Pandora. Pandora last month said it had more than 2.5 million U.S. listeners in cars, a milestone in efforts to gain customers from traditional broadcast stations.

Apple’s rivals have established themselves inside the car that they will hardly give up. Blackberry’s QNX, with 50% of the 2012 market for proprietary OS in autos, and Microsoft, with 25% for Chairman Bill Gates, are the biggest, according to Anna Buettner, IHS iSuppli’s automotive infotainment and telematics analyst.