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ANT and Zi Alliance to Deliver Predictive Text Entry Interfaces for Interactive
Television; ANT Fresco browser now available with intelligent text input and
IME capabilities from eZiText(R)
CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM and SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--ANT Limited, a leading
provider of browser-based content rendering solutions for TV, DVD and consumer
electronic devices, and Zi Corporation (NASDAQ: ZICA; TSX: ZIC), a leading
provider of intelligent interface solutions, have announced a strategic
alliance to integrate their respective technologies and deliver intuitive
multi-language input and IME (Input Method Editor) capabilities to interactive
television applications. The alliance will combine the reliable ANT Fresco
browser with Zi's predictive text input technology, eZiText(R), and IME
expertise for the remote control and on-screen keyboard. By extending the
functionality of the browser in this way, consumers can benefit from a faster
and more intuitive way to interact with TV applications, content and services
offered in their local language.
The alliance creates a pre-integrated solution with the reliable,
cost-effective Fresco browser now supporting a wider range of ideographic and
alphabetical languages, and input methods, provided by Zi's eZiText. This will
give ANT and its manufacturing customers of set-top boxes (STBs) and other
TV-centric devices increased access to markets in Asia, the Middle East and
other regions that use stroke-based, Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek or Latin written
scripts. For Zi Corporation, it represents further penetration into the STB
market. The alliance has already proven successful with the licensing and
delivery of a pre-integrated solution to one of ANT's original equipment
manufacturing customers (OEMs) supplying STBs to the Asian market.
"By integrating the capabilities of eZiText, Zi's leading edge predictive text
input technology, and IME expertise with the Fresco browser, we are better
positioned to address the market-specific language needs of our customers
targeting the Asian and Middle Eastern markets with a more comprehensive and
localized browser solution," said Rhys Grossman, senior vice-president,
business development, ANT Limited. "This pre-integration will provide OEMs with
more intelligent interface solutions that can reduce their engineering effort
and improve time-to-market of their products."
"ANT has a strong position in the STB market with their reputable and highly
reliable Fresco browser, making them an obvious alliance partner for us to
strategically extend our channel program," said Gary Mendel, vice-president,
sales and marketing, Zi Corporation. "Working with ANT gives us the opportunity
to significantly increase Zi's reach into the interactive television market.
Typically, consumers interact with their TV using a remote control without
access to a full QWERTY keyboard. The predictive intelligence of eZiText will
provide an intuitive interface in the consumer's local language to interact
with television services such as e-mailing, on-screen shopping, gaming and
information services - virtually any application or service which requires
inputting text."
Forecasts for growth in the STB market continue to be strong. Research group,
Strategy Analytics, anticipates the growth in shipments of STBs and integrated
TV sets to rise from last year's 33.9 million units to 81 million units in
2005. Peter King, Director, Broadband Practise, Strategy Analytics said, "We
are optimistic for the future of digital television deployments. Consumers are
continuing to demonstrate their enthusiasm for new digital television services,
and as more services around the world are launched, and existing platforms
continue to upgrade their offer, the industry remains on target for a worldwide
digital TV audience of 343 million homes by 2008. We also expect a 24% annual
average growth rate in set-top box revenues for the next five years or so." He
continued, "This means that companies like ANT and Zi Corporation, which supply
into the set-top box market and play a role in enabling the delivery of the new
services, will have the opportunity to have a slice of the growth in these
markets." |
