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Technology Stocks : General Magic -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: d. alexander who wrote (2361)	6/20/1998 3:02:00 PM
From: Pirate	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10081

DANA POINT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 1998--General Magic, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMGC) will demonstrate a prototype screen telephone that harnesses the power of magicTalk(tm), the Company's intelligent, natural language voice user interface (VUI), in an information appliance designed for consumers. Code-named "Magic Phone(tm)," the prototype will be shown to attendees of Upside/David Coursey's Digital Living Room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Calif. The Magic Phone prototype demonstrates the extensibility of the magicTalk VUI and is designed to offer home users a targeted feature set of General Magic's forthcoming Portico service. Inexpensive devices based on the Magic Phone prototype may someday enable home consumers to retrieve customized information services -- including traffic reports, stock quotes, news, local weather, movie listings, email, voice mail and more -- simply by asking for them. Unlike screen phones currently on the market, Magic Phone is voice-activated and does not require a web browser, keyboard or stylus. "Magic Phone is an interesting example of how the magicTalk voice user interface could be extended into a single, low-cost, consumer device for the home," said Steve Markman, CEO, president and chairman of General Magic, Inc. "We are looking forward to testing the prototype with consumers and learning how best to expand General Magic services into the home environment. By using Magic Phone to extend Portico into the home, we create additional market opportunities for our service offerings. I am also pleased that we were able to leverage some of our development efforts originating from the Magic Cap operating system and hardware with our ongoing efforts in agent and voice technologies." With its magicTalk VUI, the phone device will offer the convenience of hands-free operation and control. A parent holding an infant, for example, could simply tell Magic Phone to "call my pediatrician." Utilizing Internet telephony technology will also allow Magic Phone users to call each other across the Internet, thus avoiding long distance charges. "Magic Phone could allow consumers to check the weather, get traffic updates and perform other information-gathering chores without the hassle of booting up a computer and going online," said David Coursey, host of the Digital Living Room Conference. "Coupled with a consumer version of Portico, this product concept could be a real hit by bringing the power of the Web to millions more users." The Magic Phone prototype shown at the Digital Living Room is approximately the size of an office desk phone (8" x 11" x 2"). It features a backlit one-quarter VGA (240 x 320 pixels) grayscale LCD screen and incorporates a speakerphone, digital answering machine and built-in voice-activated phone book capable of storing more than 100 entries. As now envisioned, Magic Phone hardware would be coupled with a subscription consumer service modeled after Portico. General Magic will test the prototype with focus groups to determine exactly which features and functions consumers would want most in an intelligent screen phone system. About Portico The Company has announced that the Portico service is expected to be available on July 30. It is designed for today's mobile professional workforce and enables users to access, retrieve and redistribute information across computer and telephone networks using any telephone and a normal speaking voice through the magicTalk VUI. Portico integrates voice mail, email, address books, and calendars as well as public information from the Internet, major wire services and other sources.