Source: GeoworksGEOWORKS INTEGRATES TEGIC'S INTELLIGENT KEYSTROKE TECHNOLOGY T9 TEXT INPUT INTO ITS WIRELESS ENHANCED PHONE SOLUTION
Pairing Revolutionary Text Input with User-Friendly Premion Interface+ Simplifies Address and Email Entry, Invites Data Service Use
ALAMEDA, Calif. (Feb. 1, 1999) - Realizing the growing need for easier data entry on wireless handsets, Geoworks Corporation (NASDAQ: GWRX), a leading provider of wireless software and service solutions, has teamed with Tegic Communications to offer wireless phone manufacturers a state-of-the-art interface with breakthrough text input capabilities.
Tegic's T9 technology adds intelligent text input capabilities to Geoworks' customizable interface, Premion Interface+. The technical partnership gives device manufacturers the ability to design wireless phones with navigational and text input capabilities that are faster and easier to use. Tegic's technology simplifies text input from wireless telephone keypads by minimizing the number of keystrokes required by a user for the input of words.
"Together, Tegic and Geoworks create a synergy whose technologies greatly enrich the functionality and ease-of-use of wireless phones," said Don Davidge, vice president of sales and marketing, Tegic Communications. "Combining intuitive interfaces with intelligent keystroke entry sets new standards for personal and business communications and makes data entry as easy as dialing. This solution will greatly enhance the user's experience."
A growing number of handsets are capable of receiving information services, but traditional keypads require users to press multiple keys to enter basic information. The handset solution offered by Geoworks and Tegic replaces this method of data entry with a simplified solution and readies the wireless industry for the expected rise in text input in coming years. The Strategis Group forecasts that the number of wireless email users in the United States will top 15.6 million in 2001, amounting to 30 times more users than in 1996. Digital cellular users who want the ability to exchange email over their handsets will account for 33 percent of the total.
With Geoworks' Premion Interface+, wireless device manufacturers can integrate their system software with bit-mapped images so their devices can easily access sophisticated information services. This gives manufacturers and service providers the ability to customize and differentiate their products and services.
"The biggest challenges facing the industry today are product differentiation and increasing the usefulness of the handset," said David Grannan, Geoworks' president and CEO. "This relationship presents a way for device manufacturers to accomplish both goals."
T9 is rapidly becoming the global standard for mobile text input. With Tegic's technology, the number of keystrokes for text input is greatly reduced, meaning a device user needing to make phonebook entries or respond to an email trades the arduous 26-letter alphabet for nine intelligent buttons on the keypad. While a single press on the "5" key, for example, could be a "J", "K" or "L" in conventional text input, the T9 algorithm uses an internal linguistic database to automatically scan possible variations and determine the correct word instantaneously. Typing the message "Text input is easy," for instance, requires 18 keystrokes instead of the conventional 35, eliminating the need to hit the same key multiple times for one letter choice.
T9 text input is also available in 13 languages including Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Korean (Hangul), Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. Tegic recently introduced a Chinese version of T9 that works with Geoworks' Premion Interface+. The Chinese character-based version of T9 Text Input presents the correct Chinese character on average after three strokes. Chinese characters are entered in a fixed stroke order. The many strokes are grouped into a few, major stroke categories, which are mapped to the keys on a cellular telephone keypad. The characters displayed also depend on context, so that when typing common multi-character words or phrases, an individual may not need to enter any strokes.
About Tegic Communications
Seattle-based Tegic Communications was founded in 1995 to develop and market text input technologies for the telecommunications and computing industries. The company has worldwide patents both issued and pending on T9 Text Input and has licensed the technology to major consumer electronics and communications equipment manufacturers worldwide. Other licensees of T9 technology include Benefon, Fujitsu, Maxon, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Philips Mobile Computing, Sagem, Samsung and Texas Instruments. Additional licensees have yet to be announced. For more information about Tegic or T9 Text Input, call (206) 343-7001, send e-mail to info@tegic.com, or visit Tegic's Web site at http://www.tegic.com.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.In keeping with U.S. law, Geoworks notes that this press release includes forward-looking statements, including the expected increased use of data in the wireless industry, the ability of handset manufacturers to easily and quickly develop easy-to-use features using Geoworks' Premion Interface+ and the ability of the Geoworks and Tegic solution to increase and enhance consumer data use within the traditional wireless handset market. Actual results may vary significantly due to various risks and uncertainties. Those include, but are not limited to, the following: i) information services for the wireless industry may not emerge to the degree or 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.
T9 is a registered trademark of Tegic Communications.
Geoworks is a registered trademark and Premion and Premion Interface+ are trademarks of Geoworks Corporation.