• by Phyllis Fine , August 14, 2023

Ford has hired Apple veteran Peter Stern as president of its new Integrated Services department, which will create and market software-enabled customer experiences across Ford Blue, Model e and Ford Pro.

Stern will begin his job today, reporting to President and CEO Jim Farley. Among his key responsibilities will be developing a team to build out the business tied to  BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system and productivity and safety/security services,  and overseeing new physical services, services marketing and Ford Next.

All these initiatives are part of the Ford+ strategy to develop sustained, customer relationships and capture high-margin services, subscription and other digital revenue, according to the automaker.

Farley calls Stern’s hire “transformational, because the cornerstone of our Ford+ plan is creating incredible customer services and experiences enabled by great hardware and software,” Farley said.

The company has more than 550,000 paid software and services subscribers, with Ford Pro commercial customers today accounting for more than 80% of them.

Stern said he was motivated to join Ford because he loves “creating new services businesses.”  He also sees the basis for differentiation among automakers “shifting from the vehicles alone to the integration of hardware, software and services.”

Stern, who served as vice president of services at Apple for more than six years through January 2023, was instrumental in the launch of such entities as Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+ and MLS Season Pass, and handled marketing for all Apple services. He also oversaw Apple’s ad businesses during a period of rapid growth.

Before his stint at Apple, Stern was Time Warner Cable’s executive vice president and chief product, people and strategy officer. He began his career at McKinsey & Co.