Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Zi-Corp (ZICA), formerly MCUAF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Diogeron who wrote (1671)	11/9/1999 10:23:00 PM
From: sPD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2082

Zi becomes Legend-ary in China November 9 1999 21:54 GMT intermoney.com Language-software provider Zi Corporation announced on Tuesday a deal with PC-maker Legend that will go down in history as the one that brought the internet to the Chinese, in Chinese. Tuesday Zi Corporation [ZICA] and unlisted Legend Computer Systems announced a licensing and royalty agreement to produce Chinese-compatible set-top boxes and PC's with internet access. Combining Zi's language-input technology eZiText with Legend's set top-boxes will allow users to type Chinese characters directly into television remote controls for web-surfing, e-mailing, and conducting e-commerce transactions through their TVs. Zi Corporation's text input technology maps the key components of a written language to the keypads of cellular phones, hand-held remote controls, karaoke boxes and computers. It is considered one of the most simple of the 100-plus competing systems circulating in the Chinese markets. Tuesday's agreement represents a major milestone for Zi. Legend controls 17% of the Chinese PC market, and is working with big-cheese software-maker Microsoft [MSFT] on Venus-project set-top boxes. IDEAglobal.com thinks this news, which boosted Zi's stock more than 11% to $11-13/16 on Tuesday will continue to propel the share price to $16 in the coming two to four weeks. Although analysts believe the company will continue to show losses in the third quarter of 1999, revenue should translate into earnings in coming quarters as the fruits of its numerous licensing agreements start to show up on its balance sheet. Right now the numbers don't look too good. For the six months ending June 30 of this year, Zi's accrued revenues totalled $602,650, down from $1,247,004 in the year-earlier period. The company posted a nine-cent per-share loss in the six-month period compared to a three cent loss in 1998. The reason? Zi's licensing fees from an agreement with Swedish-telecom firm Ericsson [ERICY] were boosting income during the first half of 1998, but then that agreement ended. Still, this is no time to abandon Zi shares. Long-term gains will be found in the outgrowth of recent milestones such as the acquisition of educational-curriculum developer Beijing Oz, announced on November 1. This deal will expand Zi's stream of income with the sale of education software. Zi has also formed relationships recently which will make up for the loss of its agreement with Ericsson. Zi's now working with global-telecommunications giant, Shanghai General Electronics [SGEG] and Korea's Hutel, both of which specialise in digital mobile-phone technology. Zi Technicals (go to the article & scroll to the bottom for the link to Zi's technical chart)