TELECOMS & MOBILE
Siemens opts for new text entry software
19-04-2002
by Paula Mythen
US company Eatoni Ergonomics said Siemens has licensed rights to install its new predictive text-entry software for mobile devices.
Eatoni said that its software, LetterWise, will offer predictive-text support for 19 different major European languages on Siemens' SMS-enabled cordless DECT phones.
Christoph Caselitz, President of Cordless Products, Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group, said LetterWise was "a clever solution to a difficult problem" and added that Siemens is considering using LetterWise in a broad range of its products, with details to be announced later. Other licensees of the Eatoni software include Panasonic and Philips.
LetterWise is not dictionary based, which means users can enter proper names, slang, URLs and invented language. The software suggests which letter or word the user will type next, based on the patterns of language, and Eatoni claims the technology cuts the number of taps per letter, down from 2.2 for non-assisted typing to 1.18 taps per letter.
The product takes up around 3K of memory, which means more memory is available for other functions on the phone.
"As consumers come to expect access to instant messaging and interactive features from an increasing number of devices it is important that text entry be flexible, fast and easy, yet be small and simple enough to run on virtually any platform," Howard Gutowitz, Chief Executive Officer of Eatoni said. Gutowitz said LetterWise allows for the "playful use of language" and has the flexibility to let users include words from various languages in a single SMS message.
Siemens has licensed LetterWise in Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
Eatoni Ergonomics, founded in 2000, is a privately held corporation headquartered in New York City, with offices in Barcelona and Moscow. Its products have been integrated into various products including remote controls for TVs, cordless DECT phones, SIM cards, PDAs, and GSM and CDMA cell phones.
At the end of 2000, the company completed a USD10 million round of investment from European and international investors.
More information is at the Eatoni Web site.
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