Mazda Motor Corp. will launch the first free telematics service in Japan in July 2000. The Mazda Telematics Center uses an onboard hands-free mobile phone linked through an adapter to the car’s navigation system. Users can send and receive e-mail, get news and weather reports, and get information on restaurants, sports facilities, and other items of local interest. Users also can access the center’s website from home or office computers; plan a trip; and retrieve other information and store it in the center’s server for retrieval from their cars. Tokyo Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Corp., and Honda Motor Co. have launched telematics services, with news and weather updates, plus information on such things as concerts and restaurants. Most cars in Japan are available with optional navigation services. For slightly more money, consumers can get a system that offers real-time updates on traffic, with no monthly subscription fee. Honda’s Inter-Navi let members plan a trip from home computers and store the route in Inter-Navi’s server. This lets drivers either print it out using a home computer or call it up by call phone from the car. Toyota’s Monet, for “mobile network,” aimed for 100,000 subscribers by April 1999, but had fewer than 5,000 members by September 1999. The company charges subscribers a $24 initiation fee, plus $57 a year. Nissan’s CompassLink service aimed for 100,000 subscribers, but had barely 2,000 by September 1999.