Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR), the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology ( http://www.immersion.com/corporate/), announces the launch of the first mobile phone that lets users design their own haptic effects to personalize touch feedback, the Samsung Haptic 2.
Touch feedback makes the mobile phone user experience more sensory, intuitive, useful, and fun. With it, users feel:
- Exhilarating force feedback in mobile games, similar to that found in console games
- Unmistakable confirmation in response to touchscreen, keypad, and button presses
- Unique caller IDs with distinct vibrations that reveal who is calling even when sound is turned off
From its "My own haptic" menu, Haptic 2 lets users create personalized haptic effects through a graphical user interface based on the conventions of Immersion's VibeTonz(R) Studio authoring tool for developers. Users touch and drag icons representing wave shape, duration, and intensity to create distinctive vibrational patterns. These creations let users personalize their phone with unique haptic experiences, such as assigning them as non-audible ringtones that signal incoming calls.
"Samsung fully understands the role of haptics as a key differentiator and its potential for transforming the mobile user experience -- and they're capitalizing on it," said Craig Vachon, Immersion's vice president and general manager, Mobility. "The runaway success of Samsung's Haptic phones shows the market's desire for richer connections and new ways to interact with people, devices, and information. These phones are cutting edge examples of a new wave of touch feedback innovations in consumer electronics. A user-definable haptic feedback system is a step toward a completely new type of user-generated content."
Starting in March 2008, Samsung used Korean TV, Web, and print ads to emphasize the first Haptic phone's unique touch features, content, responsiveness, and fun. The phone was such a huge success that Samsung launched a second phone in late September with even more haptic features. Samsung announced Haptic 2, priced at approximately $600 for the 4 GB version and $690 for the 16 GB version, surpassed sales of 75,000 units in South Korea in its first three weeks.(1)
Use of touch feedback for mobile phones has been accelerating. In the first quarter of 2008, 3.5 million VibeTonz-enabled phones shipped. In second quarter, the number doubled, increasing to 7 million units, and in third quarter, the number increased to 10 million units. More than 30 million handsets with VibeTonz haptic technology have shipped around the world.
1 Samsung Electronics' Haptic 2 has a big public interest as soon as it was introduced in the market. Oct. 20, 2008. The Electronics Times http://www.etnews.co.kr/news/detail.html?id=200810170156.
About Immersion ( www.immersion.com)
Founded in 1993, Immersion Corporation is the recognized leader in developing, licensing, and marketing digital touch technology and products. Using Immersion's advanced touch feedback technology ( http://www.immersion.com/corporate), electronic user interfaces are more compelling, entertaining, and in many applications, safer and more productive. Immersion's technology has helped manufacturers develop innovative and creative solutions for products such as hundreds of video games and leading video console gaming systems, medical training simulators installed around the world, driver controls for automotive manufacturers, and mobile phones, such as those from LG and Samsung. Immersion's patent portfolio includes over 700 issued or pending patents in the U.S. and other countries.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of Immersion Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
All statements, other than the statements of historical fact, are statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements, including any projections of earnings, revenues, or other financial matters; any statements of the plans, strategies, and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning the breadth of and timeline to implement touch feedback technology into handset models or touchscreens or into games or other content; any statement regarding the release of VibeTonz-enabled handsets; any statements regarding consumer response that may occur as a result of having touch feedback in handsets or content orconsumer andmarket acceptance of force feedback products in general; any statements regarding proposed products orservices or future economic conditions or performance; statements of belief; and any statement or assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Immersion's actual results might differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with our business, which include, but are not limited to, delay in or failure to achieve commercial demand for our products or a delay in or failure to achieve the acceptance offorce feedback as a critical user experience.
For a more detailed discussion of these factors, and other factors that could cause actual results to vary materially, interested parties should review the risk factors listed in our most current Form 10-Q, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect our beliefs and predictions as of the date of this release. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of financial, business, or any other developments occurring after the date of this release.
Immersion, the Immersion logo, and VibeTonz are trademarks of Immersion Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.