Salesforce.com and Toyota have signed a strategic alliance to build ‘Toyota Friend’, a private social network for Toyota customers and their cars.
Toyota Friend will be powered by Salesforce Chatter, a private social network used by businesses, and will be offered for the first time in Japan with Toyota’s electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) due in 2012.
Toyota Friend will be a private social network that connects Toyota customers with their cars, their dealership, and with Toyota.
In addition, the new tool will provide a variety of product and service information and essential maintenance tips.
Moreover, customers can choose to extend their communication to family, friends, and others through public social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
The service will be accessible through smartphones, tablet PCs and other advanced mobile devices, said the company.
Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff said Toyota and Salesforce.com share a vision to take the auto industry into the future. He added that social and mobile technologies will transform the car ownership experience, and they are excited to be Toyota’s partner in this transformation.
Further, both the companies plan to develop cloud services for Toyota’s open platform and create new business opportunities leveraging their respective strengths.
