The partners will pump Y400 million (US$3.7m) into Mediarag, which was established by Sony's founding family, allowing it to make a fresh start in distributing content through terminals such as E-Tower and G-Book service.
Mediarag grossed Y600 million in sales last year. The deal is expected to offer Toyota a new hook in luring customers into its dealerships, where it has installed G-Book terminals to allow drivers to download maps to vehicle-based terminals, PCs, PDAs, and cell phones. E-Tower is a multimedia kiosk-type terminal offering downloads of music and maps at Y150. There are 6,300 terminals in convenience stores and Toyota dealers.