AOL in talks with Sony, Toyota in Japan - AWSJ
TOKYO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. giant America Online Inc
<AOL.N> is in talks with Japan's Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and
high-tech leader Sony Corp <6758.T> to gain footholds in
companies with cutting-edge online strategies in Japan.
The talks, reported by the Asian Wall Street Journal, were in
a preliminary stage, but, if the deals succeed, these would help
the U.S. Internet giant to expand into online services tailored
to automobiles and video game consoles.
The talks with Toyota are aimed at initially linking AOL's
online service in Japan with Toyota's Internet-commerce site,
Gazoo.com, the newspaper said.
Officials at Toyota said they were checking the report while
a Sony official said it was in talks with a number of companies
although he declined to comment specifically on the report.
The two companies are considering joint marketing programmes
and jointly developing electronic commerce services, the
newspaper said, quoting sources close to the negotiations.
AOL's talks with Sony Computer Entertainment, the arm of Sony
that produces its flagship PlayStation products, are aimed at
enabling users of the PlayStation 2 console to access AOL's
Internet service, the newspaper said.
"The company has a variety of talks with many companies to
provide broadband contents through PlayStation 2," a spokesman at
Sony Computer Entertainment told Reuters.
The Journal said the two companies are considering ways of
bundling AOL software with the PlayStation 2, which Sony has been
marketing as an all-in-one game-cum-Internet access platform.
This might include selling PlayStation 2 consoles preinstalled
with AOL software or simply shipping AOL software on a CD-ROM
with each console.
Talks began between the various sides early this year.
The negotiations are rooted in AOL's strategy of pushing its
software into an array of different devices, including cars, game
machines and mobile phones.
That strategy got a boost last September when AOL said it
would sell a controlling stake in its Japan operation to NTT
DoCoMo Inc <9437.T>, Japan's dominant mobile phone provider and a
subsidiary of monopoly NTT <9432.T>.
However, the newspaper said that one issue that could block
an AOL-Sony deal are concerns among some Sony executives that
Sony's own online expansion will run into increasing competition
with AOL.
Sony already runs one of Japan's largest Internet service
providers, which competes with AOL Japan.
A deal with Toyota could boost Gazoo.com, the automaker's
two-year-old Japanese-language Web site, which offers online
shopping and information about Toyota cars.
The AOL-Toyota talks suggest General Motors Corp <G.N> and
Toyota, which is Japan's leading automaker, may go their separate
ways in e-commerce initiatives, the newspaper said.
GM said last February it was in talks with Toyota to use
Gazoo to market GM vehicles and services in Japan.
((Tokyo Equities Desk +81-3 3432 9404
tokyo.equities.newsroom@reuters.com))
REUTERS
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