Siemens and Microsoft announced a new partnership today to develop a product line focused on automotive entertainment and navigation products.

The goal or the partnership is to produce in-car technology with better connectivity for both music players and mobile phones that will be in production by 2009.

Currently the market for such "infotainment" systems is valued at approximately $38 billion and is predicted to rise to $54 billion by 2012.

The popularity of the systems continues to grow in the face of the strong media player market and the rising popularity of content downloaded from the Internet.

The automotive unit of Siemens, VDO, is currently being purchased by Continental, a car parts makers, for $15.6 billion. According to a company statement, use of the Microsoft Auto platform will allow the company greater leeway to focus on its "core competencies."

The joint statement issued by the two companies said, "In addition, Siemens VDO will also be able to actively help shape Microsoft Auto and license platform-compliant applications, such as navigation functions, for third party suppliers."

The initial specific goal of the partnership is to craft a multimedia platform for device integration to produce "new solutions in consumer electronics . . . [that] will be adapted for in-vehicle use more quickly and easily, since it will only be necessary to add individual software components."

The strategy aims to bridge the gap between the relatively rapid development cycles common in information and communications technology and the long ones that are the norm for automotive engineering.