For Immediate Release (Calgary, AB Canada)
December 14, 1999
 

Calgary, AB (Dec. 14, 1999) - Zi Corporation (Nasdaq: ZICA; TSE ZIC) announced it has now completed licensing agreements with all five of China’s largest GSM phone companies.  The final licensing and royalty agreement has been signed with China’s TCL Holdings Co. Ltd. (TCL) also known as the “China Telecom King”.  TCL will add eZiTEXT™ to its new series of GSM phones first in Chinese and then in other languages to enable multi-lingual text-input on its range of GSM mobile phone products.

“TCL is a very important customer in the Chinese GSM space both in terms branding and volumes,” says Antoine Blondeau, senior vice president, Sales & Marketing at Zi Corporation. “Concluding the licensing agreement with TCL means that Zi has now licensed our technology to the five largest Chinese GSM manufacturers, including Konka Group, Eastern Communications Co., Capital/Mobicom and Xiamen Overseas Electronics.”  

TCL was China’s first telecom manufacturer to produce touch-tone and hands-free phone terminals.  The company is Asia’s largest telephone terminal manufacturer and the third largest in the world with reliable marketing and sales channels both inside and outside China.  TCL’s products sell around the world including the USA, Japan, Asia and Europe.  Profits last year reached RMB 6 billion (US$72 million). TCL is one of China’s top-selling brands and a publicly traded electronics company listed on China’s Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges. 

“TCL’s goal is to produce one million GSM phones in the year 2000,” commented Wan Ming Jian, general manager of the TCL mobile division. “We will be spending over US$100 million in the research and development of GSM phones, set-top boxes and high-definition television.  Fast data entry is essential if we are to offer the best product to our customers and therefore eZiTEXT™ is a cornerstone of a smarter, more interactive mobile handset.”

Zi Corporation is a software company making modern electronic technology more accessible to people in a way that is consistent with their language and culture.  The company’s eZiTEXT™ input software is licensed in numerous languages for devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and TV set-top boxes.  Zi’s common shares trade on both the Toronto Stock Exchange (ZIC) and the NASDAQ stock market (ZICA).  Zi markets its technology through strategic partnerships worldwide from offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Stockholm, San Francisco and Calgary.

Certain statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including, without limitation, statements concerning the anticipated benefits to Zi Corporation of its agreement with the licensee (the “Licensee”) described herein.  The expected inclusion of Zi Input technology in products developed by the Licensee and potential revenue therefrom involve risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Zi Corporation to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Such factors include uncertainties in the ability to successfully collaborate with the Licensee; the ability of Zi Corporation to successfully design, develop, and deliver any application that complies with the Licensee’s specifications and is accepted by the Licensee; the ability of Zi Corporation to successfully meet specific delivery dates set forth by the Licensee; the ability of Zi Corporation to successfully integrate and maintain compatibility with the licensee’s technology; possible failure to continue to be selected as the text input enabling technology by the Licensee; the ability of the Licensee to successfully market and distribute any of its products incorporating Zi technology; economic conditions in Asia; the risks of doing business in foreign countries including China; and the risks and uncertainties referred to in Zi Corporation’s Form 20-F for the most recent calendar year end as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  There can be no assurance that Zi Corporation will achieve commercial success through the agreement described herein.

For further information, please contact: 

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

Wan Ming Jian
TCL Holdings Co., Ltd.
General Manager, Mobile Division
Phone: (86 752) 282-9888