Zi CORPORATION
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release (Calgary,
AB Canada)
May 30, 2000
Zi wins competitive bid with major Chinese manufacturer
Calgary, AB (May 30, 2000) - Zi Corporation’s (Nasdaq: ZICA) (TSE: ZIC) eZiTextTM technology will be embedded in Zhongxing’s new series of GSM phones. Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Ltd. is one of the nine Chinese manufacturers officially designated by the Ministry of Information Industries to produce mobile phones for the domestic market. The licensing and royalty agreement between Zi and Zhongxing covers the use of eZiTextTM for Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English. Zhongxing has already delivered two handset set models to the domestic market and it plans to increase competition by shipping a new model every three months.
"eZiTextTM technology is now licensed to most of the ‘designated nine?domestic manufacturers authorized to produce mobile phones for the Chinese market," says Kam Ching, director of Sales and Business Development of Zi Corporation.
Zhongxing is one of China’s most established high technology enterprises with over ten years in telecom manufacturing. This agreement with Zhongxing further establishes eZiTextTM as the leading technology for language user interface in consumer electronics.
"Zhongxing plans to produce over one million GSM phones for the domestic market in the year 2000," says Dr. Gong Zhengjun, vice president of Zhongxing’s Mobile Products Division. "We have established our ZTE brand by focusing all efforts on customer requirements and eZiTextTM provides the language interface that is needed to meet our customers?growing needs. Zi’s complete language offering also makes our product instantly accessible to international markets."
Zhongxing has taken the lead in expanding business abroad by winning large telecom contracts in Pakistan and Yugoslavia. Zhongxing products include switching and access systems; GSM and CDMA infrastructure; videoconferencing systems and mobile handsets. Zhongxing has research and development centers in Shenzhen, Beijing, Nanjing, Xian, Chongqin, Shanghai, Korea and the United States. Zhongxing was the first publicly listed telecom company in China and trades on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
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 language. Zi’s wholly owned subsidiary, Oztime.com, is China’s first Web-based education service provider. 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 National 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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