Zi CORPORATION
NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release (Calgary, AB Canada)
June 20, 2000


Zi acquires new content and services for Oztime.com subsidiary

Calgary, AB (June 20, 2000) - Zi Corporation (NASDAQ: ZICA) (TSE: ZIC) added new English-as-a-second-language (ESL) content for its on-line education subsidiary, Oztime.com through the acquisition of EnglishPractice.com Inc. The EnglishPractice.com Web site currently offers both online content and services for ESL training. EnglishPractice.com offers a growing revenue stream from advertising, sponsorship, pay-per-use, subscription and e-commerce opportunities and has attracted 570,000 unique users as a result of its more than 30,000 lessons, quizzes and games. EnglishPractice.com is currently generating over six million page views per month and its use is growing by four per cent per week.

"The EnglishPractice.com content is an excellent complement to our Oztime.com subsidiary," says Michael Lobsinger, chairman and chief executive officer. "Oztime.com has two exclusive contracts to provide online education in China - one with the China Central Radio and Television University and one with the China e-Commerce Association for the Ministry of Information Industries. The content and services of EnglishPractice.com complement Oztime.com’s education portal business in addition to providing new revenue streams."

EnglishPractice.com Inc. owns two proprietary software products: The Lesson Manager and The Content Generator. The Lesson Manager allows teachers to enter questions and quizzes through a user-friendly interface and The Content Generator converts the content entered into Java applications and the corresponding HTML pages.

Zi acquired EnglishPractice.com for 250,000 common shares and US$226,000 in cash. Under the terms of the contract, 80,000 common shares were issued and 170,000 were deposited in escrow. The release of the escrowed shares is tied to performance milestones for the business. The founders of EnglishPractice.com; Jason Hiebert and Derek Kunz will continue to operate and enhance the EnglishPractice.com Web site.

Zi Corporation is a leading provider of embedded software technology and educational products and services. The company’s core product, eZiText™ 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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For further information, please contact:

Karen Attwell
Manager, Investor/Media Relations
Phone: (403) 233-8875
Email: investor@zicorp.com
Web site: www.zicorp.com
 

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