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Nokia demonstrates new Chinese input technology for mobile phones
October 26, 1998
New software will further enhance utility of mobile phones for Chinese-speaking consumers
Nokia, a leading manufacturer of mobile phones worldwide, today announced a new Chinese input technology for mobile phones. To be demonstrated at the PT / Wireless Comm exhibition here beginning tomorrow, this new breakthrough demonstrates Nokia's continuous commitment to innovation and to developing products tailored to the needs of Chinese-speaking consumers.
Nokia was one of the first mobile phone manufacturers to introduce a Chinese user interface and Chinese Short Message (SMS) capabilities in mobile phones. This demonstration of Chinese input technology for mobile handsets goes a step further by enabling Chinese consumers to communicate and manage day-to-day activities in their native language.
Mr. Pertti Simovaara, General Manager of Nokia Mobile Phones, China commented: "In China, the world's single-largest GSM market, people are enjoying more benefits from the rapid development of wireless telecommunication technology, creating greater expectations of value-added and lifestyle enhancing features. Nokia is dedicated to developing products that cater to the needs of Chinese-speaking users with specific products and services. Today's announcement of Nokia's new Chinese input technology is another good example of this on-going commitment."
Nokia's Chinese input technology works on a conventional mobile phone keypad, through which users can input any combination of Chinese characters, Latin alphabets, numbers and punctuation marks. The input menu supports a large character set containing more than 9,000 commonly used Chinese characters. The new technology provides several widely used pronunciation-based and character-based input methods to meet the preferences of different users, allowing for greater convenience and ease of use.
The pinyin-based method, very popular in China, is a system to mark Chinese pronunciation in Latin alphabets and operates on the input of 6 basic vowels and 21 consonants from a mobile phone keypad.
The stroke-based input method conforms to the natural writing habits - from top to bottom, and from left to right - providing for easy, intuitive input. It also meets the stroke order specification standard, established by China's State Language Commission. The strokes are classified to 5 basic categories: "heng", "shu", "pie", "dian" and "zhe". Users simply type in the basic strokes of a character according the natural writing order, and the software automatically presents the matching alternatives.
The software behind Nokia's Chinese Input feature has built-in intelligence that simplifies and speeds up the input process. As the user inputs each letter, symbol or stroke of a new character, the software presents a choice of the most likely finished characters that the user can instantly select without completing the input sequence. By mapping characters to a linguistic database, the technology ensures that the most likely characters are always presented first.
Nokia's Chinese input technology can be used with various mobile phone applications, such as to compose Chinese short messages, manage phone book contacts, calendar information, or wherever Chinese text is needed. Names of frequently called contacts or reminder notes on important meetings, for example, can be input in Chinese characters and stored for future use simply by using the mobile phone keypad. This provides users with greater ability to manage their daily activities using a mobile phone, which is fast becoming an indispensable personal accessory to people throughout the world.
By incorporating this Chinese input feature on future mobile terminals, and through continued investments in bringing new innovations to market, Nokia aims to continue to support the specific communication and lifestyle needs of Chinese-speaking consumers throughout the region.
Human technology and smart design distinguish Nokia's wide range of products - innovative concepts that are fashioned around the requirements of human lives and that offer the latest technology and features in the easiest-to-use products and simplest solutions.
A leader in the cellular industry in many markets in Asia Pacific, Nokia provides innovative, industry-leading and market-relevant technology and products to around 30 diverse markets in the region.
http://www.nokia-asia.com
Nokia is the world's leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile and fixed telecom networks including related customer services. Nokia also supplies solutions and products for fixed and wireless datacom, as well as multimedia terminals and computer monitors. In 1997, net sales totaled FIM 52.6 billion (USD 9.8 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on five European Stock Exchanges and on the New York Stock Exchange (NOK.A), has sales in 130 countries and employs more than 42,000 people world-wide.
Contact information:
Nokia Mobile Phones Asia Pacific
Suguna Madhavan
General Manager, Communications
Tel: +65 380 5267
Vinod Melwani
Communications Manager
Tel: +65 380 5269
Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations
Constance Tan
Senior Associate
Tel: +65 277 9562
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