MobileAria, Inc., a company formed to develop a new hands-free mobile Internet service platform for the automobile, has launched with investments from Delphi Automotive Systems, Palm, Inc., and Mayfield Fund.

MobileAria is developing an open platform to enable in-vehicle access and management of personal information, mobile Internet services and entertainment through a hands-free, "eyes-on-the-road," voice-activated interface.

According to founder Tom O'Gara, MobileAria intends to be the first company to develop an open service platform that integrates hand-held computers, mobile phones, personalized information, Internet content and voice recognition.

MobileAria, based in Silicon Valley, expects to launch the initial in-vehicle platform and service during the second quarter of 2001. The San Jose-based startup plans to provide a wireless subscription service to car owners. "North Americans spend 26 billion hours in their automobiles each year," O'Gara said. "MobileAria will allow that time to be spent more productively by providing hands-free, mobile Internet access to personalized content and applications in a non-distracting manner."

The initial MobileAria service offering will focus on increasing the user's productivity by providing voice-activated management of the user's personal information and voice-activated wireless Internet access to applications like e-mail (including voice tag e-mail response), desktop synchronization, news, weather, stock quotes, flight information, directions/routing and traffic information.

"MobileAria will meld the automotive technology and information technology worlds to provide consumers the freedom to have real-time access to the information, communication and entertainment they want -- in the car -- delivered through an easy-to-use automotive Internet appliance," said Carl Yankowski, CEO of Palm, Inc. "MobileAria will represent an important extension of value-added services to the millions of Palm handheld customers."

The initial service will be offered over integrated hardware, consisting of Delphi's Communiport(R) Mobile Productivity Center (MPC), a mobile phone and a Palm(TM) handheld. As network capacity and hardware capabilities continue to evolve, MobileAria intends to provide enhanced multimedia content, information and entertainment, including streamlining audio and video, mobile commerce, stock trading, rich messaging and additional location-based services, according to O'Gara.

"There is a strong desire to be connected anytime and anywhere, and time management is becoming a key issue for consumers and business people," said Janice Roberts, general partner at Mayfield Fund, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. "There's been a proliferation of mobile devices, for both voice and data connectivity, and we believe there is a significant business opportunity in providing the next step of in-vehicle communications and in enabling responsible access to information."

UBS Warburg expects the voice and data automotive service market to grow to $33 billion by 2010, according to Worldwide Telematics magazine. Delphi Automotive's research indicates 73 percent of handheld computer owners expressed interest in having voice-activated access to the handheld computers in their next vehicle.

At launch, the MobileAria service will be available as an aftermarket product for vehicles currently on the road, and will eventually be available as an option in new cars, according to O'Gara.

MobileAria will have access to auto manufacturers and retail channels through Delphi, and access to broad retail channels through Palm. The primary source of revenue for MobileAria will be through customer subscriptions. As the market for mobile commerce continues to grow, MobileAria may also generate revenue from subscriber transactions and technology licensing.