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Nuance Unveils NVC 2.0 for Mass Market Mobile Devices

^{Published on 2009-02-11 05:30:37, Last Modified on 2009-02-11 05:32:23 - Market Wire}
 

BURLINGTON, Mass.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading provider of speech solutions, today announced the availability of [ Nuance Voice Control (NVC) 2.0 ], a customizable modular framework that allows operators and handset OEMs to speech enable any feature, application, or network service on any mobile device they bring to market, including feature phones.

The next generation of NVC integrates VSuite, the most widely distributed embedded command and control application currently available on more than 300 million phones worldwide, with Nuance's innovative Open Voice Search (OVS), Mobile Messaging, and the ability to inform and launch any native or third-party mobile application. NVC 2.0 is the industry's first mobile solution that includes speech recognition on the device, seamlessly integrated to speech recognition in the network. Further, NVC 2.0 is platform, operating system, and search engine agnostic, allowing operators to reach mass market consumers on a variety of devices quickly.

This [ innovative suite of speech capabilities ] includes:

• Voice activated dialing: "Call Mom's mobile"
• Free-form Web search: "Find tickets to Red Sox game."
• Text or email message addressing and dictation: "Send text to Kate Smith; Hey Kate, Let's meet at the lobby bar in 20 minutes and then go to the concert."
• Music search: "Get Love Story by Taylor Swift"
• Navigation: "Find Directions to 159 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts"
• Games: "Go to BubbleSmile"
• Social media applications: "Go to Twitter"
• And any other feature or service operators and OEMs want to voice enable.

All commands can be launched from the idle screen to maximize the user experience, and the graphic presentation is fully integrated with the existing branded applications on the device.

"There is a clear demand in the broader consumer market for fully speech-enabled mobile devices, and NVC 2.0 finally gives operators and OEMs the platform to deliver against that demand," said Mike Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. "NVC 2.0 was designed with the entire mobile ecosystem in mind, but specifically focused on mobile operators and the services they provide for search, messaging and additional over the air consumer-generated content. Elevating the accessibility of these features increases the opportunity for both operator and handset consumer loyalty and the opportunity for increased revenue per user."

"For operators and OEMs to see a true ROI, they need to ensure these services are easily accessible to the mass market," said John Jackson, vice president of research, CCS Insight. "As these speech solutions become more intelligent and pervasive across, within and among applications, they'll be an important factor in helping the mobile market realize new revenues and increased customer loyalty."

As VSuite ships on millions of devices today, operators and OEMs are able to quickly take advantage of NVC 2.0 and help drive new operator and OEM search revenues through greater discovery, access, and usage of search applications. Additionally, users engage NVC 2.0 directly from the idle screen at the push of a button, making it very easy to jump directly to an operator's purchase page in their online music store or to search results with targeted advertising – generating additional revenue opportunities. Operators can also generate new revenues from bundled messaging packages, since NVC 2.0 allows users to dictate completely open-ended text or e-mail messages. This feature is based on Nuance's state-of-the-art Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition technology, used by millions of people worldwide.

Mobile Industry Commentary

• "As a leader in handset innovation, Samsung invested early in the requirements definition, development and testing of NVC 2.0. We have worked with Nuance to integrate VSuite into many of our devices and found its use in navigation, Web search, and dictation both logical and intuitive," said Omar Khan, senior vice president, Strategy, Product Management and Customer Service, Samsung.
• "In working with Nuance to bring voice command and control to our feature phones, it's clear that they've invested significant resources in making speech a pervasive yet reliable interface for the broader mobile market," said S. Jay Yim, Ph.D., executive vice president, chief marketing officer, Pantech.
• "The accuracy and performance of Nuance's Open Voice Search feature is extraordinary. We tested it integrated to the Medio Web Search application for months and found it to be highly accurate and highly addictive," saidRob Lilleness, president and chief operating officer, Medio Systems, Inc.

Pricing and Availability

The NVC 2.0 framework is available to mobile operators and OEMs today in more than 20 languages. For pricing and additional questions, please contact your Nuance Sales representative or visit [ www.nuance.com/nvc ] or [ www.press-and-speak.com ].

About Nuance Mobile

Nuance Mobile builds innovative, intelligent and intuitive touch and speech interfaces to simplify and enhance the way people interact with mobile devices, applications, and services. Nuance Mobile solutions make mobile devices and in-car systems easier to use, automate customer self-service, and optimize the access and discovery of even the most advanced mobile applications and content – regardless of technical know-how, location, environment, or physical and literacy capabilities.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit: [ nuance.com ].

Nuance, Nuance Voice Control, VSuite and the Nuance logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States of America and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release, relating to future plans or future events or services, are forward-looking statements which are subject to specific risks and uncertainties. These could involve particular market trends, competition factors and other risks described in the documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results, events and services may vary significantly from the forecasts. The reader is warned not to rely on these forward-looking statements without reservation, since these are simply reflections of the current situation.