Wayfinder, Tele Atlas and ScanSoft Showcase Speech-Enabled Personal Na

Wayfinder, Tele Atlas and ScanSoft Showcase Speech-Enabled Personal Navigation on Mobile Devices

    Business Editors/High-Tech Editors
    3GSM World Congress 2005

    CANNES, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 15, 2005--

Companies Join Forces for Multimodal Application; Enables Destination Entry and Route Guidance by Voice
    ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a global leader of speech and imaging solutions, Tele Atlas, a worldwide leader in geographic databases, and Wayfinder, the world's leading provider of mobile navigation on Smartphones, today announced a three-way partnership to deliver a state-of-the-art speech-enabled personal navigation system accessible from a mobile device in a vehicle or on foot.
    The application, initially developed for English language users, is based on Wayfinder's Symbian-based Mobile Navigator(TM) application, offering map display, route calculation and route guidance functionality. Users can interact with the system through a voice-driven user interface based on ScanSoft's speech solutions, including automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech and its server-based Xmode(R) Multimodal System, which enables users to interact with their devices using a combination of speech and keypad entry, integrated with map data provided by Tele Atlas. The mobile application enables destination entry by voice, including full address input such as location and street and route guidance based on ScanSoft's RealSpeak(TM) Text-to-Speech and high quality pronunciations of Tele Atlas' PhonoMultinet product.
    "We are pleased to partner with Tele Atlas and Wayfinder to showcase the advantages of speech over regular keypad entry on mobile devices, as well as the natural user interface design improvements and increased driver safety that ScanSoft's technology can deliver," said Peter Hauser, senior vice president and general manager for ScanSoft International. "This collaboration is another example of our ongoing commitment to deliver innovative speech solutions that meet the unique requirements of the automotive and wireless industries."
    A demonstration of the jointly developed application will be shown at 3GSM on the Tele Atlas (Hall 3, J27) and ScanSoft (Hall 2, D40) booths.

    About Wayfinder Systems

    Wayfinder Systems AB is the leading provider of mobile navigation solutions on Smartphones. Wayfinder started as a research project within Ericsson 1989 but was incorporated in 1995 and placed with its head office in Lund, Sweden. Since then, the company has grown to become the leading provider of end-to-end products and services within the field of Navigation solutions for Smart phones, now available in 12 different languages covering most of Western Europe. For its core product Wayfinder EuroNavigator(TM), the company cooperates with companies such as Nokia, SonyEricsson and Tele Atlas. More information, please visit www.wayfinder.com

    About Tele Atlas

    Tele Atlas is a worldwide leader in the development of state-of-the-art geographic databases. It has the largest portfolio of the most highly detailed and accurate digital maps of both Europe and North America, covering around 437 million inhabitants in most European countries and 313 million in North America.
    Visit www.teleatlas.com for more information on Tele Atlas.

    About ScanSoft, Inc.

    ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT) is a global leader of speech and imaging solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes -- saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving product usability, safety, and accessibility. For more information regarding ScanSoft(R) products and technologies, please visit www.ScanSoft.com

    Trademark reference: ScanSoft, the ScanSoft logo, Xmode, and RealSpeak are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

    The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in ScanSoft's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

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CONTACT: ScanSoft International: Vanessa Richter, +32-9-239 80 31 vanessa.richter@scansoft.com or North America: Jonna Schuyler, 978-977-2038 Jonna.schuyler@scansoft.com or Wayfinder Ebba Lovenskiold, +46 46 288 22 12 ebba@wayfinder.com or Tele Atlas Brenda Sivewrigh, +32 9 244 88 09 brenda.sivewright@teleatlas.com

KEYWORD: FRANCE INTERNATIONAL EUROPE INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS SOFTWARE TRADESHOW MARKETING AGREEMENTS SOURCE: ScanSoft, Inc.

Copyright Business Wire 2005