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Three New License Agreements Broaden eZiText® Availability in Booming Chinese
Market
CALGARY, AB - Zi Corporation (NASDAQ: ZICA) (TSX: ZIC), a leading provider of
intelligent interface solutions, has strengthened its position in the booming
Chinese wireless handset market with three more licensing agreements for its user-friendly
eZiText® predictive text input technology. The three new Asian eZiText licensees,
AnyDATA Mobile Communication Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Unirise Communication
Co., Ltd., and Ya Hsin Industrial Co., Ltd., are all fast-growing original design
manufacturers (ODMs), the first based in China, the other two in Taiwan. All three
are initially planning to launch eZiText-powered phones in China that, according
to the China Ministry of Information, is the world's largest and fastest growing
wireless market with the number of wireless subscribers in use reaching 315 million
through August 2004.
Under the terms of these new Asian agreements each ODM has licensed Zi's eZiText
technology for Simplified and Traditional Chinese, English and a variety of other
languages. To date, Zi has over 100 licensing agreements with original design
and equipment manufacturers worldwide. The three new licensees are expected to
begin deliveries of eZiText product in 2005.
Noting the recent Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) forecast that
the number of Chinese mobile phone users would reach 350 million in 2005, Zi Corporation
senior vice president of global sales and marketing Glen Morgan said "Asia in
general, and China in particular, are of tremendous strategic importance to Zi
Corporation. The current growth of wireless handset sales and service uptake in
these markets is unprecedented. Lower cost, faster time to market and other efficiencies
mean that the ODM channel is rapidly expanding and capturing a bigger slice of
the manufacturing business. These new agreements only reinforce our leadership
in this very dynamic Chinese market."
"These new licensees selected Zi because of the easy to use features built into
eZiText, the quality of our technology and the local support we provide to our
customers. The selection of Zi underscores our belief that manufacturers focused
on the Chinese market prefer eZiText for Chinese text input" added Morgan.
About AnyDATA
AnyDATA Mobile Communication Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is a Chinese subsidiary
of US-headquartered company, AnyDATA Co., Ltd. A Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) handset producer, AnyDATA Mobile has licensed eZiText with the following
language databases: Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional), English, Russian,
Spanish and Vietnamese. Initial product roll out with eZiText will be for the
Chinese market, with expansion into the other markets following.
About Unirise
Unirise Communication Co., Ltd. is a Global System for Mobile (GSM) handset ODM.
Unirise has licensed eZiText with Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional) and
English language databases. It plans products for Chinese market.
About Ya Hsin
Ya Hsin Industrial Co., Ltd. is another GSM manufacturer. It has licensed eZiText
with Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional) and English language databases,
and an additional five languages.
About eZiText
Zi's user-friendly text input system, eZiText, enables consumer electronic manufacturers
and telecom carriers to provide end users with richer, more personalized text
input experiences. eZiText provides faster and more efficient text entry through
truly predictive one-touch entry and word completion, coupled with the ability
to learn from a person's usage patterns and behavior. eZiText is available in
and supports over 41 unique language databases.
About Zi Corporation
www.zicorp.com) is a technology company that delivers intelligent interface solutions to enhance
the user experience of wireless and consumer technologies. The company's intelligent
predictive text interfaces, eZiTap™ and eZiText, allow users to personalize the
device and simplify text entry providing consumers with easy interaction for short
messaging, e-mail, e-commerce, Web browsing and similar applications in almost
any written language. Zi supports its strategic partners and customers from offices
in Asia, Europe and North America. A publicly traded company, Zi Corporation is
listed on the Nasdaq National Market (ZICA) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ZIC). |