like the energizing bunny
Zi signs licensing agreements for eZiTEXT(TM) with Beijing Telecommunication Equipment Factory and Mobicom Corporation
BEIJING, PRC, Nov. 5 /CNW-PRN/ - Zi Corporation (TSE: ZIC) (NASDAQ: ZICA) is pleased to announce that it has entered into licensing and royalty agreements for its eZiTEXT(TM) language processing technology, with China's Beijing Telecommunication Equipment Factory (Capitel) and Mobicom Corporation (Mobicom). The agreements call for the integration of eZiTEXT(TM) into Capitel's range of mobile phones and allow technology provider Mobicom to sublicense the technology to its customers.
Capitel is the ninth largest electronics company in China with consolidated revenues of RMB 7.38 billion (US$830 million) in 1998. Capitel is a state-owned company run under the Chinese Ministry of Information Industries. Capitel's main product lines include mobile network base stations; mobile phone handsets and mobile power supply technology. The company is also a joint-venture partner of Alcatel, Ericsson and Nokia in Beijing Alcatel Transmitting Co. Ltd, Beijing Nokia Mobile Communication Co. Ltd and Beijing Ericsson Mobile Co. Ltd., respectively. These joint ventures manufacture a large volume of their core-competency telecommunications products for the Chinese and overseas markets.
Mr. Zhang Yue, director, Research and Development at Capitel says, ''We're very comfortable with Zi Corporation. Zi's Chinese language input technology has been co-developed in China, is marketed by Chinese people, and is integrated in our platform by Zi's Chinese engineers from their Beijing research and development facility. It is very important to us manufacturers in China to receive on-site support, particularly in the embedded software space. Zi is one of few software developers to have such an extensive China setup.''
With headquarters in Holmdel, New Jersey, Mobicom designs, develops, manufactures and markets in cooperation with Beijing Telecommunications Equipment Factory advanced GSM and CDMA cellular phones in China and other selected world markets. Eighty per cent owned by Capitel, Mobicom's main product is a GSM handset platform based on the Lucent Optimay reference solution. Mobicom's platform is exclusive to Capitel in China. However Mobicom has the ability to sell a finished product under the ''Mobicom'' brand name in North America and Europe, or alternatively to OEM its product to third party customers.
Together, both companies expect to sell one million phones in China in 2000 and two million in 2001, all of which will carry the eZiTEXT(TM) technology.
This is an opportunity to bundle good technology that will benefit our customers in North America and Europe, and therefore increase the value of our offering,'' commented Winston Lieu, chief technical officer at Mobicom. The versatility of the Zi engine means languages are entirely interchangeable: only one integration will be required and will operate across languages. We have the ability to demonstrate a Chinese product in the morning and a European product in the afternoon using the same platform.
Integration experience, flexibility and execution speed were key to win Capitel's confidence. We now have over 50 employees in China, of which more than half are in R&D and technical support functions. This investment is now paying off,'' remarked Antoine Blondeau, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Zi Corporation.
Zi is also happy to invite its customers, partners and friends to visit with us at Booth A405 at the upcoming PT Expocomm held in Beijing from Nov. 9 - 13. Zi will exhibit Capitel's new line-up of GSM phones as well as models from our many partners in China and overseas.
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