In announcing its Q2 earnings Harman’s CEO hinted that the technology behind Toyota’s upcoming Entune car radio/smartphone system may head to the aftermarket.
In addition, due to expected laws about back up cameras, Harman said it may purchase a backup camera technology company.
CEO Dinesh Paliwal said the Toyota car system, developed with Harman, is getting a lot of attention from other auto makers, which will “help us bring this capability into our aftermarket business.”
The Toyota Entune, unveiled at CES was developed in partnership with Harman and allows a smartphone connection to the radio. It can read SMS messages aloud to the driver and uses voice recognition. It should roll out later this year.
Harman also said it expects additional business in back up cameras due to the NHTSA proposal calling for the inclusion of back up cameras in vehicles by 2014. Palwali said Daimler is interested in a back up camera order and Harman is also talking to U.S. companies. “I do expect this business should take off. We’re also investing money and looking at potential acquisitions to leapfrog our capability in hardware and software,” said Paliwal.
Harman more than tripled its net income in the December quarter to $53 million. Revenue climbed 3 percent to $956 million.
The auto division division grew 6 percent (after an adjustment from Harman’s exit from the PND (portable navigation device) market last year.
Harman claims $13 billion in upcoming OEM orders including a $1.2 billion order for a high end car audio/entertainment system from Volkswagen—a new customer.
Source: Harman
Photo of Toyota Entune system with access to to apps such as iheartradio and Bing via Engadget
not to bust out the Mercedes card again… but MB already reads out text messages from the COMAND system…
BTW, I would do a Harmon head unit over any aftermarket unit, 100x more reliable, and I am sure the look would not end up being something that appears to come off a spaceship