Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR), the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, today announced that Pantech Co., Ltd. has signed a worldwide license agreement to use Immersion haptics (touch feedback) technology in several of its handsets.
"Immersion's haptics technology has quickly become a requirement for the best user experience for electronic devices," said Craig Vachon, senior vice president and general manager of its Touch line of business. "Touch feedback expands human capabilities, and Immersion has made it very easy for companies wanting to excel in competitive markets to exploit this powerful advantage."
Pantech, one of Korea's top mobile phone manufacturers, combines advanced technology and design innovation to deliver products that are tailored to customers' diverse lifestyles. Widely recognized as a design leader, Pantech pioneered the dual-sliding, double-keyboard handset in North America with the Pantech Duo and Matrix, and has introduced other popular products including Slate, the world's thinnest mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard, and the Pantech Breeze. In addition to manufacturing handsets for AT&T and other U.S. carriers, Pantech delivers trendsetting phones for network operators worldwide.
"We believe that Immersion's haptics system will provide Pantech expanded possibilities for creating an even better user experience with mobile phones and content for our customers," said Yong -Joon Lee, vice president, Pantech. "Incorporating haptics technology in our products is a meaningful step forward in today's exciting marketplace."
Immersion's touch feedback, in combination with sight and sound cues on mobile handsets, has been shown to improve user productivity (speed and accuracy). It also makes operation more intuitive and content more realistic and fun, improving the user experience in a number of ways:
* Provides unmistakable tactile confirmation in response to touchscreen or button presses
* Empowers caller ID with distinctive vibrations matching a melody or song that let users know who is calling even when sound is turned off
* Enlivens mobile games with touch feedback similar to that found in console games
* Supplies pulses when scrolling over items, allowing favorites, friends, or unread emails to feel a bit different for easier, faster identification
* Heightens the music and ringtone fun-factor by "turning up the subwoofers" with a vibe beat
* Makes alerts more discernible and memorable by varying how they feel
By the end of 2008, more than 40 million handsets with Immersion's high-fidelity, programmable haptic technology had shipped around the world.
About Pantech (www.pantech.com)
Pantech Group, through its affiliates - Pantech Co., Ltd., Pantech&Curitel Communications, Inc. and Pantech C&I Co. - is one of Korea's top three mobile handset makers. Pantech has received wide-ranging industry recognition for its innovative handset designs and has also introduced a significant number of breakthrough technologies in the mobile phone industry. Established in 1991, Pantech collectively has approximately 2,500 employees and 4 regional sales offices worldwide. For more information on Pantech, please visit www.pantech.com.
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 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 statements regarding Immersion making it easy for companies wanting to excel in competitive markets; Pantech's belief that Immersion's haptics systems will provide Pantech expanded possibilities for creating an even better user experience, 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 of force 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 and the Immersion logo are trademarks of Immersion Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.