Fonix loses another opportunity...why :
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 10, 2000--SpeechWorks International, Inc. (Nasdaq:SPWX), a market leader in the telephony-based speech technology industry, today announced that Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet communications, commerce and media company, is using SpeechWorks' Speechify(TM)Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine to convert Yahoo!(R)Mail (http://mail.yahoo.com) text messages to speech for the recently announced Yahoo! by Phone (http://phone.yahoo.com) service. People who use Yahoo! by Phone can now listen to their Yahoo! Mail text messages over any phone in an understandable and pleasant synthesized voice that is nearly as natural as a human voice.
People who use Yahoo! Mail, one of the Internet's most popular free, Web-based e-mail services, can sign up for their own ID and password at phone.yahoo.com, and then simply dial 1-800-MY-YAHOO (1-800-699-2466) to have their e-mail messages read to them over any phone. This service provides users an easy solution for accessing important e-mail messages from any phone when an Internet browser is not accessible.
"Our selection by Yahoo! demonstrates the momentum SpeechWorks is building as major Internet companies realize the need to complement their services with high-quality, phone-based speech solutions," said Stuart R. Patterson, CEO, SpeechWorks. "Through our relationship with Yahoo!, millions of people are now able to experience Speechify, the highest quality, text-to-speech engine commercially available for North American English. We look forward to more opportunities to support breakthrough products and services as we continue to bring Web content to the nearest phone."
"Yahoo! selected SpeechWorks based on the high quality of the voice and efficiency of their Speechify engine," said Lisa Pollock, senior producer, Yahoo! Mail. "SpeechWorks made sense for our service based on its ability to provide a highly scalable and user-friendly service."
Yahoo! By Phone is one of the first customer deployments of SpeechWorks' Speechify TTS engine. Developed through a strategic relationship with AT&T and backed by AT&T Labs Technology, SpeechWorks' Speechify TTS product eclipses the robotic sound of traditional TTS systems and sets a new standard for pleasant, understandable and natural-sounding synthesized speech. (See related release September 18, 2000.)
About SpeechWorks International, Inc.
Organizations worldwide rely on SpeechWorks (NASDAQ:SPWX) to delight their callers and provide them with a new level of service over the phone. Complementing the self-service model of e-business, SpeechWorks(R) speech recognition solutions, including the revolutionary SpeechSite(TM) product, and Speechify(TM) text-to-speech engine, let customers direct their calls, obtain information and complete transactions automatically, simply by speaking naturally over any phone, anytime.
SpeechWorks customers include some of the world's most sophisticated customer service innovators such as America Online, Amtrak, Continental Airlines, E*Trade, FedEx, Fidelity Investments Institutional Brokerage Group, MapQuest.com, United Airlines and Yahoo!. The Company offers the SpeechWorks Here(TM) Guarantee, the industry's only program that includes a money-back guarantee. SpeechWorks strategic partners include leading corporations such as AT&T, Dialogic, an Intel company, InterVoice-Brite and Net2Phone. Early investors included Citigroup's e-Citi Unit, GE Equity, Intel Corporation, The Intel64 Fund, MCI WorldCom Venture Fund and Reuters.
SpeechWorks is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and has offices around the world. To experience the power of SpeechWorks, call 1.888.SAY.DEMO. For additional information, call 617.428.4444 or visit speechworks.com.
SpeechWorks, Speechify, SpeechWorks Here and SpeechSite are trademarks or registered trademarks of SpeechWorks International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
SpeechWorks
Leah Lesser
617.428.4444
leah.lesser@speechworks.com
www.speechworks.com
or
Schwartz Communications
Peter Gorman
781.684.0770
speechworks@schwartz-pr.com
KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS |
