(September 17, 2011) DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford, continuing to capitalize on interest from app developers to work with its SYNC connectivity system, has announced that ROXIMITY, a location-aware alert service, as the winner of the Ford SYNC App Developer Challenge held last weekend during the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in San Francisco.



“We chose ROXIMITY’s location-based service because it represents an important consumer trend, and it’s an area we’d like to investigate for potential in-car integration through SYNC,” said Julius Marchwicki, SYNC AppLink program manager.

“The concept has huge potential as it moves the trend of ‘daily-deal’ finders a level deeper by combining it with more refined location data and context-aware services.”

The ROXIMITY development team now has the opportunity to develop a SYNC-enabled version of their app and travel to the International CES in Las Vegas in January with Ford, where they will be able to demonstrate their app as part of Ford’s presence at the show.

Developed by Denver-based co-founders Danny Newman, Joe Mease and Austin Gayer, ROXIMITY provides real-time deals and specials that are relevant to where a user is walking or driving, based on their personal preferences and interests. For example, a user walking by a shopping mall could receive a customized message with a special deal on food or half-off shoes.

Integrating ROXIMITY with Ford SYNC would provide drivers with voice-controlled, hands-free access to the service. Users could choose to hear nearby specials as they drive through the city, or ROXIMITY could alert them automatically to special offers and deals based on their location provided by SYNC’s GPS receiver.

The Ford SYNC app competition was designed to help stimulate ideas among the developer community. Teams participating in the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon were given the opportunity to submit and present their app ideas for a chance to become a licensed SYNC developer, gain access to the tools and resources to integrate their app with SYNC AppLink, and then travel to CES and showcase the app as part of Ford’s presence at the show.