Sanyo Press Release |
EATONI ERGONOMICS AND SANYO MANUFACTURING CORPORATION SIGN AGREEMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LETTERWISE TEXT-ENTRY SOFTWARE
Sanyo to Enable Message TV with LetterWise Text Entry
LAS VEGAS, NV - 2002 International CES - January 8, 2002 - Eatoni Ergonomics, Inc. (Eatoni), the maker of next-generation text entry software for handheld devices, announced today it has licensed its LetterWise predictive text-entry software to Sanyo.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sanyo Manufacturing Corporation, Sanyo's U.S. television manufacturing division, and Eatoni will jointly develop a memo application for Sanyo's Message TV, a new concept television set on which text messages can be quickly and easily entered onscreen using only a remote control. Message TV, incorporating LetterWise software, makes it simple to stay in touch with busy members of the household without ever touching a computer. Additional LetterWise applications being considered for Message TV include fax, email and Internet functionality.
Message TV is being showcased at the Sanyo 2002 CES Booth #1326 at the Las Vegas Convention Center from January 8 through January 11.
According to Forrester Research, consumers who do not currently use their home PC to go online will be likely to choose their television sets as the main point of online access. The Sanyo-Eatoni project is a first step toward providing easy and convenient access to the Internet via a television set's remote control. Enthusiastic about the synergy of the product combination, Sanyo and Eatoni have coined it the "NOA" project, reflecting the shared letters in each company's name. "Amazingly, the Eatoni LetterWise software is so small and fast that it runs on the existing processor in our TVs," said Katsushi Shiono, Director, Product Planning and Development for Sanyo Manufacturing Corporation. "We didn't have to change our hardware in any way to incorporate predictive text entry into our TVs." "Sanyo is opening the door to real interactive television using a TV remote control," said Howard Gutowitz, CEO of Eatoni Ergonomics, Inc. "There is no need for the consumer to lug a full-sized QWERTY keyboard around the house to get quick and convenient text entry." About LetterWise Text-Entry Software LetterWise is an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn predictive text entry solution for handheld devices. It is designed for real world uses of text entry on handhelds, such as SMS messaging, phone address book applications, and wireless web applications. It allows quick entry of not just common words, but also slang, foreign words, abbreviations, proper names, addresses, and URLs. LetterWise linguistic databases are so small that manufacturers can supply 100 languages in the space competitive systems use for just five languages. More than 120 LetterWise languages are currently available. LetterWise is a member of a family of products, including JLetterWise, for text entry in Japanese, and WordWise, software that allows touch-typing of a telephone keypad.
About Eatoni Ergonomics, Inc.
Eatoni Ergonomics, Inc. is a privately held corporation headquartered in New York City. It also has offices in Barcelona and Moscow. Founded in 2000, Eatoni Ergonomics develops advanced predictive text-entry software for handheld devices. Its products have been integrated into a wide range of products and platforms, including remote controls for TVs, cordless DECT phones, SIM cards, PDAs, and GSM and CDMA cell phones. Most recently Eatoni signed an agreement with Benq (formerly Acer) to incorporate LetterWise text entry language databases for English, Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese into its and CDMA phones, and potentially into GSM, PDA and other products as well.
About Sanyo Manufacturing Corporation
Sanyo Manufacturing Corporation headquartered in Forrest City, Arkansas, produces Sanyo and Fisher brand color television sets for retailers in North America. The current product line ranges from 13-inch through 36-inch screen sizes and offers a wide variety of feature packages, including new "Flat Screen" technology models. Among the most frequently purchased brands in America, Sanyo televisions are deemed by consumer reporting publications as high performers with excellent repair history ratings. Reviews like these testify to the high quality craftsmanship for which Sanyo is known. Sanyo's latest "Super Line" will increase production capacity by over one-half million televisions per year. Sanyo's two facilities (Forrest City and Tijuana, Mexico) are ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified. Together, the two plants produce over three million television sets annually.
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