Headline: Zi Corp. connects in China
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To observers of the high-technology industry, it should have been
no surprise that the fourth annual Chinese Entrepreneurs
conference took place last month in Vancouver. Canada, and
Vancouver in particular, has strong economic ties with Asia
Pacific -- and high technology is one of its fastest-growing
industrial sectors.
In a speech to the conference, Canada's International Trade
Minister Sergio Marchi highlighted just how steep the growth in
both immigration and investment from Asia Pacific has become in
recent years.
``In the 1950s, 80% of all immigrants {to Canada} were from
Europe,'' he said.
``Today, more than 60% are from Asia. Chinese is now Canada's third
most spoken language after French and English. The language
skills, family ties and cultural knowledge of our two million
Asian Canadians are valuable economic assets,'' Marchi added.
Marchi also praised the work that Canadian telecommunications firms
have done in China. ``Take the example of Glenayre Technologies
Inc. ... The company was founded in Vancouver,'' he says.
``Ninety-five per cent of what Glenayre produces in Canada is
exported, with almost one-third going to Asia Pacific alone. Sales
have increased to $390 million in 1996 from $93 million in 1991.''
Meanwhile, some Canadian companies are taking advantage of huge
Chinese software opportunities: a big stumbling block to the
popularity of the World Wide Web in China apparently lies in the
lack of Chinese-language Internet tools and content.
A Calgary company called Zi Corp. has taken up this challenge, and
has met with huge interest from an apparently eager market. In
June, for example, the company announced a joint development
memorandum of understanding with Apple Computer International Ltd.
for future collaboration on Chinese-language products for the Mac
O/S and Apple's next-generation operating system, Rhapsody.
Under the memorandum, Apple will help Zi develop and market
Chinese-character products in a number of categories: Internet and
intranet, word processing, education and document processing and
publishing.
While Apple was happy to have a good story to tell in Chinese
markets -- and have a way to highlight its efforts to help
developers create new applications for both the Mac O/S and
Rhapsody platforms -- it was Don Smallwood, senior vice-president
and head of Asia Pacific for Zi Corp., who had the most to gain by
working with Apple.
Smallwood said the collaboration with Apple ``represents the
company's first significant endeavor with a technology company
doing business in our target market.''
The first stage of this alliance is a software licence agreement
signed by the two companies, which will see Apple bundle Zi Mail
(a Chinese-language e-mail package) with Apple Macintosh personal
computers in China and Taiwan.
As part of the agreement, Apple has a non-exclusive licence to
bundle Zi Mail with the Mac O/S Chinese version. Zi Mail uses Zi
Input, a Chinese-character input system that Zi says is simple to
learn and easy to use.
The company also sells Zi Input (its basic Chinese-character input
system for personal computers) and runs an Internet/intranet
consulting company called Zi Solutions.
This has all become possible in mainland China because Zi has
cannily entered into a strategic partnership in the People's
Republic of China with Beijing Tengtu Culture and Education
Electronic Development Co. Ltd.
The existence of this partnership allows Zi to market its products
to the Chinese education, government and business markets. The
partnership has been officially recognized by China's State
Education Commission, China's Ministry of Post and
Telecommunications, and China's Ministry of Electronics Industry.
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