Toshiba to Offer Location Information Service for KDDI GPS Phones

Toshiba Corp. and Toshiba Location Information Co., Ltd. (TLI) announced Aug. 13 that they will begin offering a location information service for KDDI Corp.’s “au” mobile phone service with global positioning service (GPS) capabilities in October.

Toshiba will be responsible for sales of the service and the system while TLI will provide the location information service.

Already, the two companies are providing a service package of the location information service for PHS phones of KDDI Group’s DDI Pocket Inc.

The service package includes: (1) a location information service for corporate users to obtain location data via the Internet and locate salespeople on the map, (2) an e-daily reporting service for smaller firms and sole proprietors to get to know the location and current status of their workers such as “on the road” and “at a meeting” in order to prepare a business log, and (3) an e-Location service for individual and family users to locate a holder of a GPS mobile phone using a browser of a personal computer and an Internet mobile phone.

The new service for “au” GPS mobile phones will enlarge the service area in addition to the existing service, so that corporate users that deploy their salespeople nationwide will be able to select mobile phone systems suitable for their area.

Existing customers using a PHS phone can continue to use traditional search and map software packages.