HARMAN's Cloud-based Aha Radio Platform awarded new business with premium automakers

Dec. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Palo Alto, CA - HARMAN, global leading supplier of premium audio and infotainment systems  , announced today that its Aha business unit has won new business with five premium car manufacturers to implement consumer services based on its cloud-based platform bringing a broad spectrum of rich internet content safely into vehicles.

According to market research company JD Powers & Associates, new car sales should reach 17.2 Million in the USA and Canada in 2013, and Aha’s five new partners should account for approximately 22 per cent of that new car market. The initial Aha implementations will roll out in 2012, with additional vehicles added in future years. The Aha platform is being integrated with systems manufactured by HARMAN as well as multiple other hardware manufacturers. The first OEM partnerships will be announced during the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas on 9 January 2012.

Aha is HARMAN´s Silicon Valley-based business unit powering the Web-connected 'fourth band' of the radio dial, making Web content as easy to access as AM and FM channels. Owners of Aha-Ready vehicles will have instant access to thousands of free stations of Web-based content including music services, Internet radio, podcasts, live news, audio books, personalized traffic reports, Facebook and Twitter feeds, location-based services and more, through their factory-installed in-car infotainment systems. The Aha Service is free of charge for customers and always up-to-date, thanks to its cloud-based technology platform which can easily keep up with rapid-changing web and content companies. Consumers bring Aha into their car and customize their stations and settings through Aha’s smartphone apps.

"Aha represents the next generation of automotive infotainment services ", explains Michael Mauser, Executive Vice President and Co-President, Infotainment and Lifestyle. The Aha Platform enables our automotive OEM partners to offer their customers an unparalleled, “future proofed” infotainment experience", continues Mauser. "With its unique radio-based approach, the platform uniquely enables an intuitive experience for consumers and can be seamlessly integrated in the customized HMIs of the OEMs. “

About Aha by HARMAN

Aha, a unit of HARMAN International Industries, is the first interactive platform that makes web content safe for drivers. Aha organizes content from the Web into personalized, live and on-demand radio stations that consumers can listen to from anywhere – at home, on the go, or safely from the driver’s seat. The Aha Platform and Service was started in 2008 by a group of web and multimedia veterans with a shared passion for delivering an “always-on” audio experience to connect drivers to the content they really want. HARMAN, the company that designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, acquired Aha in September 2010. For more information, visit www.aharadio.com.

About HARMAN

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 12,500 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $4.0 billion for the 12 months ended September 30, 2011. The company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE- HAR.


For further information please contact:

Aha
Hillary Murphy
+1 (415) 309-5061
press@aharadio.com


HARMAN
Darrin Shewchuk, Director, Corporate Communications, +1 (203) 328 3834, darrin.shewchuk@harman.com                     
Nicole Mehr, Director, Corporate Affairs and Communications Europe, +49-7248-71-1272, nicole.mehr@harman.com