Source: GeoworksGEOWORKS DEBUTS ITS ENHANCED PHONE TECHNOLOGY WITH MITSUBISHI'S NEWEST ENTRY TO THE JAPANESE MARKET
Model Moem-D Advances Integration of Phone, State-of-the-Art GUI and Email
ALAMEDA, Calif. (Nov. 16, 1998) - Embarking on its ongoing mission to accelerate the smart phone market, Geoworks Corporation (NASDAQ: GWRX), a leading provider of wireless software and service solutions, announced today that it has provided Mitsubishi Electric Corporation engineering and software expertise to produce a new enhanced phone that is simple to use but offers advanced capabilities. The device, called Moem-D, debuted in Japan November 5, 1998 with network service provided by NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading wireless telecommunications carrier.
Geoworks' technology gives Mitsubishi's latest digital cellular phone enhanced features that go beyond voice-only transmission by adding email capabilities. Geoworks made the complex product development possible, furthering the trend of enhanced phones, a new line of communication devices. Enhanced phones are communication devices that have a similar form factor to today's voice-only cellular phones, but are capable of receiving data services and feature graphical user interfaces.
"Geoworks has proved itself to be a leader in embedding highly sophisticated functionality in resource-constrained devices, so their work with us was essential to the introduction of this unique enhanced phone," said Masao Hamamura, General Manager, Personal Information Radio Terminal Engineering Department, Mobile Communication Business Division of Mitsubishi.
Equipped with Geoworks' operating system, Mitsubishi's Moem-D phone features voice, phonebook, email applications and PC connectivity. Weighing 175 grams, the device is one of the lightest Personal Digital Cellular network phone with PDA features in the Japanese market where size is a key factor of a phone's success.
Moem-D is unlike any other device in its ability to work in Japan's diverse email market thanks to its ability to access a trio of email systems: Short Mail Service (provided by NTT DoCoMo), 10-yen Mail (provided by NTT DoCoMo and MASTERNET), or NIFTY Serve. The triple functionality gives consumers cost-effective choices for short, medium or long messages respectively over either the NTT DoCoMo network or the Internet.
A key component of the Mitsubishi device is its flexible graphical user interface. The highly-intuitive interface enables a bit-mapped screen to display a range of images, from simply worded options to animated characters. This feature provides branding and target marketing opportunities as well as offering greater ease of use to consumers.
Mitsubishi's Moem-D phone is a significant entry into the market. The new enhanced phone provides some of the most advanced technological features of wireless communications in a highly intuitive way to spur consumer acceptance and increased use.
"Mitsubishi saw the potential for a mid-level phone as a way of giving device users basic cellular phone functionality with extras borrowed from next-generation wireless technology. Those extras came easy for Geoworks," said David Thatcher, president of Geoworks. "Moem-D represents the best of Mitsubishi's hardware and the best of Geoworks' software expertise, resulting in a rare combination of an easy-to-use phone with advanced features."
An additional feature on Moem-D is its ability to perform PC connectivity, which allows the phone to back-up, restore and synchronize its data. The powerful Moem-D phonebook application lets users store far more than average cell phones. In addition to names and phone numbers, Moem-D also stores email addresses, numbers (such as Pocket Bell pager numbers), short memos and address information on individuals and groups.
About Geoworks
Based in Alameda, Calif. with international operations in the United Kingdom and Japan, Geoworks Corporation is a leading provider of end-to-end software solutions for the wireless communications industry. The Company creates operating system software, applications and actionable services for a variety of wireless devices, ranging from enhanced phones to high-end, all-in-one smart communicators. For additional information on Geoworks, contact the Company on the World Wide Web at http://www.geoworks.com.Note: Company names and product names that are introduced here are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
In keeping with U.S. law, Geoworks notes that this press release includes forward-looking statements, including the Company's intention to provide consulting services to the smart phone industry, is ability to grow the smart phone market, its ability to develop products and services and the timing and availability of product and service offerings worldwide. Actual results may vary significantly due to various risks and uncertainties. Those include, but are not limited to, the following: i) the smart phone market may not emerge to the degree or in the timing anticipated; ii) the Company must consummate definitive agreements with key partners; and iii) new technologies and new services are inherently subject to development, timing and consumer acceptance risks. Additional information is available in the Risk Factors and Business discussions in the Company's Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other filings available from the Company or from the Securities and Exchange Commission.