Zi CORPORATION
NEWS RELEASEFor immediate release (Calgary, AB Canada)
August 10, 2000
Zi earns confidence of Korean handset manufacturers
Calgary, AB (Aug. 10, 2000) - Zi Corporation (NASDAQ: ZICA) (TSE: ZIC) has signed a licensing agreement with GTRAN Korea Inc. This is Zi Corporation's second Korean contract win in the past two months. GTRAN has licensed Zi's predictive input technology for use in two new CDMA products. eZiText™ will initially be implemented in English, Portuguese and Spanish on GTRAN's Jennifer handset which features short messaging services (SMS), fax capability, wireless modem and a WAP microbrowser. Zi will support GTRAN's export efforts by providing eZiText™ in 24 languages.
Zi earned its first contract with Korean manufacturer, LGIC, through a competitive bid process in late June. This second contract with GTRAN firmly positions Zi as a leading supplier to the Korean manufacturing industry. The Korean electronic export market has grown 74 per cent from 1999 to 2000; led by the export wireless communication equipment such as CDMA and GSM mobile phone handsets. This market is expected to continue to grow throughout 2000.
"Zi has recently doubled its Asian research and development capacity to support manufacturers like GTRAN," says Gary Kovacs, senior vice president, Marketing and Sales, Zi Corporation. "Zi will optimize the Internet and information service capabilities in GTRAN's CDMA products by providing eZiText™ the language input solution that meets the demands of advanced data services."
In 2000, GTRAN expanded production capacity and now has the research and development facilities to develop three CDMA models simultaneously. GTRAN currently has two CDMA handsets in development, both of which will use Zi's eZiText™ technology. In addition to the Jennifer handset, Zi's eZiText™ technology will enable the Gina smartphone.
"At GTRAN, we are ramping up our production capacity to meet the growing demand for wireless devices worldwide," said Bill Kang, general manager, Planning and Marketing, GTRAN. "As we advance our product roadmap, we needed a language technology to optimize today's data capabilities such as WAP, short messaging and fax. We chose Zi for its superior technology - but also for its experience in man machine interface and its extensive language offering."
GTRAN is an engineering-oriented company focusing on high-speed fiber optic transmissions, wireless PC cards and CDMA handsets. The handset division, established in Korea in 1998, launched its first wireless device in April 1999.
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, e-mail, e-commerce, Web browsing and similar applications in almost any written 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).-30-
For further information, please contact:
Karen Attwell
Manager, Investor/Media Relations
Phone: (403) 233-8875
Email: investor@zicorp.com
Web site: www.zicorp.com
Bill Kang
GTRAN
General Manager, Planning and Marketing
Phone: (82) 343-380-8820
Email: bill@gtran.co.kr
Web site: www.gtran.co.kr