The No. 5 Japanese automaker's new "telematics" service follows Ford's announcement in July that it's forming a joint venture with Qualcomm Inc, a developer of cellular-phone technology, to offer wireless Internet access as well as emergency call services in cars starting next year.
Mazda and Ford are trying to catch up with rivals such as General Motor Corp and its OnStar telematics service. OnStar is already available in North America, where about 300,000 paying subscribers use the hands-free cellular and data service to retrieve e-mail, place phone calls and receive navigation and travel information.
Automakers see in-car wireless information services as a new source of revenue they can tap after a vehicle is sold, a market that could grow to US$42 billion by 2010 from US$1 billion in 1998, according to a International Data Corp. study.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.