Tegic Communications Delivers Version 7.2 Of Industry Leading T9(r) Text Input Software

SEATTLE, WA - November 22, 2004 - Tegic Communications, a leading provider of predictive text input software and a wholly owned subsidiary of America Online, Inc., today announced the availability of version 7.2 of its popular T9(r) Text Input software. Tegic's T9 7.2 software offers advanced alphabetic input prediction in multiple languages to help mobile phone and PDA users to more quickly write SMS text messages, mobile instant messages and wireless e-mails.

Specifically, Tegic's T9 Text Input version 7.2 offers enhanced multi-lingual support, which makes it easier for users to switch back and forth between languages when texting. It also offers predictive text dictionaries for three new languages, including Bengali, Tamil and Urdu, bringing the total number of languages that Tegic supports up to 45.

These new upgrades join additional valuable features that were added to Tegic's T9 7 series software earlier this year to provide an increasingly robust end-user experience. They include an enhanced word completion functionality and next word prediction, among others.

"As text messaging and mobile instant messaging gain mainstream acceptance worldwide, we are delivering on our mission to make text entry faster, simpler and globally accessible," said Craig Peddie, general manager, Tegic Communications. "T9 7.2 software sets a new standard for text input convenience and ease-of-use by providing multilingual functionality that help people to communicate more easily."

The New Improvements in Tegic's T9 Text Input Version 7.2 Include:

- Easier Switching Between Languages When Texting: It's not uncommon for people to switch back and forth between languages when speaking or writing to friends and family. Yet mobile users currently have to manually select or change the language in which they want to text in order to do so.

The new multi-lingual enhancement in T9 7.2 software changes all that. It quickly recognizes the language a user is typing in and automatically predicts the word in that language the user most likely wants. With T9 7.2 software, users can text concurrently in two languages without having to change their phone settings.

For example, if a user types in "Buenos Dias! How are you today?" T9 software will know that the user is switching from Spanish to English in the same conversation and will instantly predict the most probable words, saving users both time and keystrokes.

- New T9(r) Language Support for Bengali, Tamil and Urdu: To accommodate the burgeoning mobile market in Southeast Asian countries, Tegic has added three new languages - Bengali, Tamil and Urdu - to its total of 45 language databases.

T9 Text Input is also available in Afrikaans, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean (Hangul), Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

T9 Text Input supports Simplified and Traditional stroke-based Chinese, as well as phonetic Pinyin, BoPoMoFo, and Phrasal Text Input.

Core Updates Offered in the T9 7 Series Software

Tegic's T9 Text Input version 7.2 also includes all of the core updates offered in the company's 7 series, including:

- Smart Word Completion of Most Frequently Used Terms: Word completion was introduced in T9 version 5.1 software to automatically complete words that users add to the T9(r) database, such as abbreviations, chat phrases, e-mail addresses and URLs. In the 7 series of T9 software, Tegic has enhanced the word completion functionality to quickly learn which words users prefer and to prioritize completion of the words and phrases the user types most often.

- Next Word Prediction: Beyond predicting and completing words, the 7 series of T9 predicts entire phrases based on the phrases a user types most often. Phrases, such as "Call me at home" can be entered with just a few keystrokes, helping users to type less while actually sending more messages.

- Cool, New Manufacturers Databases (MDBs): The 7 series of T9 software makes it easier for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to create and enhance special theme phones by adding customized T9 databases with thematic terms, such as:

*** Lord of the Rings (e.g., Legolas, Eowyn, Mirkwood, etc.)
*** Harry Potter (e.g., Azkaban, Hogwarts, Quidditch Pitch, etc.)
*** NASCAR (e.g., camber, spoiler, oversteer, etc.)
*** Manchester United (e.g., Van Nistelroov, Solskjaer, ManU, etc.)
*** Formula One (e.g., Grand Prix, Ferrari, Renault, etc.)
*** Brasilian Futbol (e.g., Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, etc.)
*** Euro Cup (e.g., Andrade, dribbling, Zagorakis, etc.)

By including fun, new T9 databases on theme phones, OEMs and operators can enhance marketing campaigns and access new potential revenue opportunities surrounding popular movie releases and sporting events.

- New, More Modern and Easier to Implement T9(r) Architecture: As a benefit to OEMs, a function-based Tegic Application Programming Interface (API) now runs in parallel with the existing event-driven Tegic API. This new API is more flexible and often requires fewer lines of integration code. Now, OEMs can choose the architecture that best meets their needs.

- New Java Version of the T9(r) TRAINer Game: Tegic now makes it easier for OEMs and operators to demonstrate to consumers the ease and power of T9 Text Input capabilities. While a desktop version of the T9 TRAINer game has been available for consumers to try out at www.tegic.com and www.T9.com since 2003, OEMs and operators can now post a new Java-enabled T9 TRAINer game for mobile devices to their web sites. Mobile users need simply download the game to any Java-enabled mobile phone or PDA to quickly learn how to use T9 software via a fun, interactive game.

Availability T9 Text Input version 7.2 is available now for manufacturers of mobile and electronic devices to license and integrate into upcoming models. For more information about T9 Text Input, call (206) 343-7001 or visit Tegic's Web site at www.tegic.com.

About T9 Text Input Software T9 Text Input, a leading alphabet-based, Chinese, Japanese and Korean character-based text input software, is the flagship product of Tegic Communications. By incorporating T9 Text Input into mobile communications products, companies are solving the fundamental problem of how to quickly and easily type and send messages. Although each key on a telephone keypad can be interpreted in multiple ways - a single press on the "5" key could be "J," "K," or "L" - T9 Text Input uses an internal database to automatically scan possible variations to determine the correct word. For example, entering the word "call" into a mobile phone will take just four key presses with T9 Text Input rather than ten key presses required by conventional "multi-tap" text entry. In addition, T9 Text Input adapts to users by automatically capturing their unique text messaging language -- such as slang, abbreviations, symbols, mixed alpha-numerics, emoticons, URLs and e-mail addresses -- in its dictionary so that users need not multi-tap them with each use.

There are more than 800 mobile phone models available throughout the world today that include T9 Text Input and the technology has been licensed to major consumer electronics and communications equipment manufacturers. Current licensees of T9 Text Input software include Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, NEC, Panasonic, Daxian Telecom, EMOL, Panda Mobile, Shanghai LongCheer, Wistron, Sun Corp. and TCL, among others.

For more information about T9 Text Input, visit www.t9.com or AOL Keyword: T9 Text Input.

About Tegic Communications
Tegic Communications, a leading provider of predictive text input software and a wholly owned subsidiary of America Online, Inc., was founded in 1995 to develop and market communication technologies for the telecommunications and computing industries. The company is headquartered in Seattle and has offices in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing and Bangalore.

Contact Info:
Erin Gifford, America Online, Inc.
703-265-7285