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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
TOYOTA France Selects Webraska Mobile Navigation For Launch of "Toyota Hub" Telematics Portal
Paris, France - September 23, 2004
Webraska Mobile Technologies, the pioneering provider of GPS, voice-enabled wireless navigation applications and location-based services (LBS) solutions, is pleased to announce that its SmartZone Navigation solution has been selected to power the navigation offering within the "Toyota Hub". The "Hub" is Toyota France's consumer telematics services portal.
The "Toyota Hub" will be commercially launched in October 2004 and marketed to consumers by selected Toyota dealers in France. Pricing will be made public on the day of launch.
Cars will be equipped with a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) featuring mobile phone, digital camera and GPS navigation functionalities. The PDA will be connected to the car audio system for enhanced sound output. Toyota France selected HTC Corporation's Microsoft PocketPC Personal Assistant (PDA) QTEK 2020 to launch the service. "Toyota Hub" enables consumers to access exclusive mobility services including entertainment, assistance and GPS navigation.
"Telematics services are fully in line with our marketing strategy", commented Stéphane Boyer, Director, Customer Services, Toyota France. "Telematics services such as those developed in partnership with Webraska, help to meet our customers' needs in terms of emergency or after-sales services, and increase brand loyalty."
A key element of the portal, mobile navigation benefits from a comprehensive set of functionalities offered by Webraska's GPS mobile navigation solution:
· Intuitive address entry including the ability to use addresses contained in the contact book, and/or to search a database of nearby places customized for Toyota France to include the dealers' addresses.
· Door-to-door guidance featuring crystal clear voice instructions, graphical guidance for each manoeuvre and detailed zoomable and panable maps.
· Extensive up-to-date European map data coverage.
· Traffic optimized route calculation and reliable time of arrival estimations.
· Automatic re-routing in case of a wrong turn.
In addition, Webraska has worked with Toyota to integrate the "Toyota Hub" navigation application with Toyota France's call center-based assistance service. The purpose of this integration is to enable Toyota drivers to specify the destination for their navigation system by voice call. All they need to do is to dial Toyota customer support from the Hub main menu and dictate their destination to the operator. The call centre operator will in turn push the requested address on the Webraska navigation server. By simply clicking on "requested address" in the navigation menu, the subscriber will be able to activate route download and instantaneously launch navigation.
Eric Node-Langlois, Chief Executive of Webraska, commented - "The Toyota Hub launch in France is the outcome of Webraska's long-term investment in relationships with car manufacturers, complementing our core strength in the telecom sector. This launch confirms the strength of Webraska's navigation solution for telecom and automotive players seeking to launch mass-market navigation solutions. "
About Toyota Hub
Toyota France invites you to the Paris Motor Show - 23 Sept.-10 Oct. - to discover Toyota Hub, Toyota France's exclusive consumer mobility service portal. In addition to traditional PDA functionalities, Toyota Hub offers a full range of services that can be purchased independently. Toyota Hub offers four main types of services: Toyota Club (information dedicated to the Toyota brand), On the move (services to help you find your way), Multimedia (free browsing of multiple infotainment services), Connect (to remain connected). A Corolla Verso car equipped with the system is available for trial at the Orange France and Toyota France stands in Hall 4.
For more information, please visit www.clubtoyota.fr.
About Toyota France
Toyota's commitment to the end consumer encompasses taking into account the end consumers local practices and habits starting from designing adapted cars down to operating local manufacturing units. For instance, the Yaris car is manufactured in France and designed in Toyota's European Design Centre "ED2" located in Sophia-Antipolis, France. Resulting from this strategy, Toyota France became a major player in the French Automotive marketplace operating six manufacturing units in Valenciennes-Onnaing. Toyota Motor Manufacturing France is the second largest Toyota manufacturing unit in Europe and the first one in Continental Europe.
For more information, please visit www.toyota.fr.
About Webraska
Webraska provides the advanced software solutions required to develop, integrate and deploy location-based and GPS navigation services. Webraska's carrier-grade offering includes the SmartZone™ Geospatial Platform, the SmartZone™ CallCenter Framework, the award-winning SmartZone™ Navigation Suite and the SmartZone™ Wireless Application Suite including CityGuide, BuddyFinder, RoutePlanner and MapViewer.
Webraska has its worldwide headquarters in Paris, France, and offices around the world. The company currently powers the LBS and telematics offering of service providers in four continents, including Bell Mobility, Sensis (Telstra Group), Telecom Italia Mobile, TMN, O2, Vodafone and Orange, and has partnerships with leading technology and content providers including HP, IBM, NAVTEQ, Nokia, Nortel, Openwave, SAIC, Siemens and Varetis.
For more information visit: www.webraska.com
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