Zi Corporation appoints Howard Balloch to board of directors

News release

Zi Corporation appoints Howard Balloch to board of directors

Calgary, AB (August 14, 2001) - Zi Corporation's (NASDAQ: ZICA) (TSE: ZIC) board of directors have approved a resolution to add an additional board member and have appointed Howard Balloch to the Zi Corporation board of directors. Mr. Balloch joins the six other directors, Michael Lobsinger, Derrick Armstrong, Simon Jiang, Rod Love, Thompson MacDonald and Angus Michael Roderick Mackenzie, as a part of the leadership team at Zi Corporation.

Additionally, Mr. Balloch has been appointed chairman of Oztime, Zi Corporation's investment in e-learning solutions in China. Through the knowledge and relationships developed in his tenure with the Canadian Foreign Service, Howard has developed competencies in matching Chinese market needs with foreign partner expectations. He will bring this focus as a member of the Oztime leadership team to maximize Oztime's development in content delivery, technology and corporate training for e-learning in China.

Howard Balloch brings to the Zi Corporation board of directors a diverse background in the political and economic environment in China and extensive experience in building strong relationships at the highest levels in Chinese political and corporate sectors. Howard served as Canada's Ambassador to China for more than five years, retiring from the Canadian Foreign Service in July 2001. In this role, Howard led the promotion and protection of Canadian interests in China.

To view Mr. Balloch's profile, visit: www.zicorp.com/articles/hbprofile.htm

Zi Corporation is a market-driven technology company delivering intelligent interface solutions to enhance the user experience of wireless and consumer technologies. The company's core technology product, eZiText™ connects people to short messaging, e-mail, e-commerce, Web browsing and similar applications in almost any written language. Zi Services provides market-leading engineering design in Bluetooth, VoIP and man-machine interface. Zi supports its strategic partners from offices in Calgary, Beijing, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Shenzhen, Stockholm and Tokyo. 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 more information:

Dale Kearns
Zi Corporation
Chief Financial Officer
Phone: (403) 233-8875
E-mail: investor@zicorp.com
Website: www.zicorp.com

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