MobileAria, which was formed in October with backing from handheld maker Palm and car parts giant Delphi, plans to have its voice-activated Internet service for the car available by midyear.
The company has named technology veteran Michael Orr as its first permanent CEO. The company is still finalising which services it will offer first, but Orr said the company is looking at items such as e-mail, driving directions, restaurant and hotel referrals, news and stock quotes.
The company will initially go after yuppies and gadget lovers who already take their handhelds everywhere they go. "I think I represent the typical target," Orr said. "I have a Palm VII, but to use that and drive at the same time is risky."
MobileAria recruited Orr from his post as president of Santa Cruz Operation's Tarantella unit. Tarantella works with corporations to make their in-house software available over the Internet via a standard Web browser.
Initially, MobileAria's service will run in conjunction with Delphi's Mobile Productivity Center (MPC), a unit that attaches to the dashboard. In January, Delphi began selling the US$499 MPC, which connects a cell phone and a Palm V handheld, allowing both devices to work together using voice commands.
Expectations for the in-car device have been high. However, concerns about the speed with which next-generation cell phone networks are being built and other issues have led analysts to project more modest growth for both device makers and service providers.
Deutsche Banc Alex Brown recently forecast that sales of the MPC could generate as much as $100 million in revenue this year. That forecast has since been cut.
"It now appears (the unit) could give them anywhere from $5 million to $20 million" in sales this year, said Ken Blaschke, an automotive components analyst at Deutsche Banc. "They are ramping up more slowly than we had originally thought."
Competition is also a concern, as MobileAria is far from the only company with its eye on the in-car electronics market.
In the fall, Sun Microsystems inked a deal with General Motors' OnStar unit to try to make Java technology the computing standard for the automotive industry. Microsoft has its Windows CE for Automotive operating system, as well as a Car.Net initiative aimed at creating a common language for cell phones, handhelds and dashboard computers.
IBM and Intel, too, have announced plans to collaborate on a standard for dashboard "telematics," a term for cellular and Internet services in vehicles such as navigation systems, roadside assistance and entertainment.
