Zi CORPORATION
NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release (Calgary, AB Canada)
March 27,  2000
 

Zi licenses eZiTextTM to mobile phone leader DBTEL

Calgary, AB (March 27, 2000) - Zi Corporation’s (NASDAQ: ZICA) (TSE: ZIC) predictive software, eZiTextTM will be integrated into DBTEL’s new line of GSM digital phones. The phones will be equipped with Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and English versions of eZiTextTM and are destined for the Taiwanese and Chinese markets.

"Zi’s proven software engineering skills and Zi’s local presence in research and development were key for DBTEL choosing our solution," says Gary Kovacs, senior vice president, Marketing and Sales at Zi Corporation.

eZiTextTM is a leading software technology that connects people to text messaging, email, e-commerce and web-browsing. It provides intuitive, predictive power to allow a user to type quickly and intelligently on any communication appliance. eZiTextTM has the flexibility to accommodate several ideographic and alphabetic languages which improves a manufacturers’ ability to penetrate their target markets.

DBTEL has factories in both Taiwan and Mainland China, and exports around the globe. DBTEL’s main product areas include home, office and digital mobile phones, answering and fax machines, and network products.

Zi Corporation is a leading provider of embedded software technology and educational products. The company’s core product, eZiTextTM connects people to short messaging, email, e-commerce, web browsing, and similar applications in almost any written language. Zi’s strategic partners use the technology to enable information and Internet appliances that meet the needs of consumers, business, government and education systems. Zi supports its strategic partners from offices in Calgary, Beijing, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Shenzhen and Stockholm. A publicly traded company, Zi Corporation is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (ZICA) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ZIC).

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The information in this press release is based on Zi Corporation’s current expectation and assumptions, and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such risks include, among others, general business and economic conditions and competitive actions as well as the risks and uncertainties referred to in Zi Corporation’s 20-F for the most recent calendar year.

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For further information, please contact: 
 
Karen Attwell Jim Lee
Zi Corporation DBTEL Incorporated
Manager, Investor/Media Relations Research and Development Manager
Phone: (403) 233-8875 Phone: 886 2 2268 2081 ext. 262
Email: investor@zicorp.com Email: jim_lee@dbtel.com.tw
Web site: http://www.zicorp.com/ Web site: www.dbtel.com.tw