NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS LAUNCHES 74th GLOBAL LANGUAGE ORIYA T9 TEXT INPUT

New Delhi (India) – November 06, 2008 – Nuance Communications, Inc., a leading supplier of speech, imaging solutions and text input solutions, today announced the availability of version 7.4 of Nuance’s T9® Text Input software in Oriya, spoken by more than 31 million people, mainly in the Orissa state in India. Oriya is an official language of India and is written with the Oriya script. With this language addition, Nuance’s T9 Text Input software helps quickly write in 74 global languages.

A demo and early release of the new, enhanced version of Nuance’s T9 Text Input software for Oriya is available for licensing to consumer electronics, office automation, and landline and mobile communications device manufacturers in various fields, including government services, banking, games, healthcare and education. This new version of T9 Text Input software in the mobile communications field will enable Oriya speakers to quickly send SMS text messages in their native language to family, friends and co-workers, making it easier for speakers throughout Oriya-speaking regions in India to communicate more effectively.

“Oriya script input used by Oriya-speakers is the key for Value-Added Services and communications in many new fields, like kiosks for government services, local banking, and health services outreach,” said Eric Collins, General Manager for the Tegic Business Unit, Mobile and Consumer Services, Nuance. “We look forward to partnering with handset manufacturers, consumer device makers, government agencies and mobile carriers to launch many new applications in the Oriya language. Historically, T9 software helps native speakers to send SMS text messages quickly and easily in their own language, and Oriya T9 will empower Oriya speakers in India to engage in business, family, and personal mobile messaging.”

Oriya Language T9 Text Input Software, Version 7.4 Enables:

– Enhanced Word Completion: A language database including high frequency words makes it easier to type and send SMS text messages quickly. By automatically providing suggestions for completing longer words, the new T9 software helps simplify mobile messaging in Oriya. Further, T9 Text Input software quickly learns which words a user prefers and prioritizes completion of the words the user types most often.

– Customized Word Choice List: The mobile user may not know the exact sequence of Oriya characters, but by pressing just one key, the T9 Text Input software user will be shown a horizontal word choice list of all the characters associated with that particular key. This new feature can help the user learn and use T9 software more quickly and effectively, in part by assisting the user in memorizing the keypad layout, enabling a faster SMS experience.

– Stem Locking: The new stem-locking feature enables users to highlight the first few characters of a word and see only those words that begin with the specific set of characters. This new functionality helps the user identify their intended word more quickly by displaying a tailored word choice list.

In addition to the new features above, T9 Text Input software enables easier switching between languages for users who prefer to text in more than one language, back-up of user-added words and text input preferences, and a next word prediction function.

About T9 Software

T9 Text Input, a leading alphabet-based and Chinese, Japanese and Korean character-based messaging software, and is available in more than 74 languages, including nine Indian languages – Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam — and a hybrid language used by India’s urban youth: Hinglish. By incorporating T9 software into mobile communications products, companies are solving the fundamental problem of how to quickly and easily send mobile messages and browse the Web. More than 800 mobile phone models available throughout the world today include T9 software and the technology has been licensed to major consumer electronics and communications equipment manufacturers worldwide. For more information on T9, please go to

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is the leading provider of speech, smart keypad 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:

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