IBM ANNOUNCES VIAVOICE FOR MACINTOSH OS X

Third Generation of IBM's ViaVoice for Mac integrates with Aqua User Interface

MacWorld Best of Show NY 2001 logo


ViaVoice for Macintosh OS X Edition wins Best of Show at Macworld Expo 2001!

(Booth #749, Macworld, NY - July 19, 2001) -IBM (IBM:NYSE) today announced its new ViaVoice for Macintosh OS X Edition, a fully integrated voice recognition application for the Macintosh OS X platform. Built upon IBM's award-winning series of continuous speech recognition for the Macintosh and designed to integrate with the new Mac OS X, users can dictate naturally into most text applications, easily launch and surf the Web, and navigate Apple's new Mac OS X - all by using their voice.

With a sleek new look, ViaVoice for Mac OS X was designed to take advantage of Mac OS X's popular Aqua interface. IBM's ViaVoice for Mac OS X sustains the Aqua look and feel throughout; including a new Command Center, redesigned Voice Center, SpeakPad and Preferences.

"IBM has optimized ViaVoice to work best with Apple's popular Aqua user interface and G4 processors," said Toby Maners, Manager, Consumer Voice and Pen Segment, IBM Voice Systems, at the Macworld NY Keynote address. "We first brought ViaVoice continuous speech recognition to the Mac two years ago. Our new ViaVoice for Mac OS X brings us even closer to making the optimal conversational interface a reality for the Mac community."

"Mac OS X provides tremendous business opportunities for innovation on the Mac, and support from developers like IBM is proof positive of Mac OS X's promising future," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "This latest release of ViaVoice from IBM offers great new feature enhancements that take advantage of Mac OS X, and we're thrilled to see that ViaVoice will continue to deliver ease and productivity that our users appreciate."

IBM ViaVoice for Macintosh OS X provides users with the capability to dictate directly into popular supported applications, to launch and surf the Internet and access Web pages through voice-activated Web links. Offering a U.S. vocabulary more than twice the size of any previous ViaVoice for Mac product, IBM is bringing a new level of accuracy and ease of use to voice recognition on the Mac. The new product also features:

  • Faster Enrollment - allowing users to train the system to more quickly recognize their speech
  • G4 Processor Optimization - for G4 with multiple processors and for G4 with velocity engine
  • Customizable Control - expandable, user customizable, command and control features so users can speech-enable common tasks
  • IBM ViaVoice Outloud Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology in U.S. and U.K. English - providing the capability to listen to e-mail and other text documents which the computer reads out loud Specialized vocabularies - topic support that provides customized vocabularies for Computers, Business and Finance, Chatter's Jargon and Cuisine
  • Noise-canceling digital Universal Serial Bus (USB) microphone - makes the widely popular and successful IBM ViaVoice products available to most Macintosh systems, including iBook customers

Power for ViaVoice for Macintosh OS X
IBM's ViaVoice for Macintosh runs on Mac OS X. The software requires a 300 MHz Power PCÔ processor or higher, 256 MB RAM, 600 MB of available hard disk space and a CD-ROM or DVD drive. The software runs on iMac, PowerMac G3, PowerBookG4, PowerBook G3, Titanium PowerBook G4, and iBook computers, and includes a noise-canceling USB microphone.

Availability and Pricing
ViaVoice for Macintosh OS X will be available in Fall 2001 in International English to address both U.S. English and U.K. English users and is planned for other, selected languages after that. It will be sold through major mail order catalogs, retail and office supply stores, through ShopIBM (www.ibm.com/shop), online vendors, as well as other channels that carry Apple software. The suggested retail price for the software is $179.95 in the U.S. and £99.99 in the U.K. An upgrade path will be offered for ViaVoice for Mac Millennium and ViaVoice for Mac Enhanced customers. Information will be provided on the IBM Voice Systems Web site when available.

About IBM Voice Systems
With over 40 years of delivering voice solutions and over 150 voice technology patents, IBM is the global leader in providing access to data through end-to-end voice integrated solutions that enable organizational effectiveness for e-business development. For more information about IBM Voice Systems, visit http://www.ibm.com/viavoice.

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EDITORS NOTE:
The price noted herein is IBM's suggested retail price only which is subject to change without notice. Dealer prices may vary. IBM, Power PC and ViaVoice are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the U.S. and /or other countries.

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