Dublin and Berlin, November 21, 2002. -- Weblicon, a leading provider of Personal Information Management and Messaging software, and Voxpilot, the pan-European VoiceXML service provider, have teamed up to make Weblicon's multilingual innovative communications solutions available all over Europe. This partnership will allow users voice-activated access to Weblicon's Personal Information Manager in different languages, from different European countries.
A demo version of Weblicon's PIM has already been made available on Voxpilot's VoiceXML Gateway in German and English languages. Users are able to dial +49-30-726 167 021 to have their eMails read to them over the phone after registering for a free account on Weblicon's Web site.
"We are very pleased to join with Weblicon in bringing their attractive Personal Information Mangement system to users all over Europe," declared Dr. Jonathan Alcantara, CEO of Voxpilot. "We believe that Weblicon's technology will prove to be extremely beneficial for telcos, enterprises and portal providers in the European marketplace".
Currently, the market for voice commerce and voice applications is still being developed, however, the forecasts are all positive: the American Kelsey Market Research Group forecasts a turnover volume of voice-controlled Internet services at Euro 7.4 billion in the USA for the year 2005. Market researchers of the British Ovum assure that the voice portal in the UK will earn more than Euro 29.5 million per year already in 2005.
Weblicon-founder Carsten Brinkschulte is convinced of the breakthrough of voice applications: "The standardization of the interfaces between the individual components and voice applications will add a new dimension to the Internet applications. Already today, some 75 percent of all mobile phone users are in favour of voice-controlled services. The desire for respective voice applications is even higher among users who are on the go much in their job. 'Always on' is the motto of the mobile office". This change in paradigm has consequences, people are not bound to their offices any longer but rather the office to the people. Routine tasks, time management and address administration are delegated to intelligent Personal Information Managers.
This press release on the Web: http://www.weblicon.net/press/press_releases.html
About Voxpilot:
Voxpilot is the leading pan-European outsourced VoiceXML provider, offering a range of tools and services for developers, including a multilingual online development environment (ODE), a VoiceXML gateway, an outsourced VoiceXML channel, support for multi-language VoiceXML 2.0, and local access telephone numbers for development and deployment in all major European markets. The voxBuilder Developer Programme is free for all development, testing and demonstration use. Online tools include a File Manager, a VXML Validator, and a real-time Log Viewer. Voxpilot's flexible pricing and hosting models allow for the rapid and cost-effective deployment of innovative voice applications. Developers can sign up for a free voxBuilder account at ode.voxpilot.com. For more information, please visit Voxpilot at www.voxpilot.com.
About Weblicon Technologies AG:
Weblicon Technologies AG -- set up in June 2000 in Berlin by a founding team around CEO Carsten Brinkschulte -- develops and licenses web-based applications (weblications) for portals, ISPs, ASPs and telcos. Personal Information Management products (PIM) are integrated seamlessly into networks of servers, applications and databases. The Weblicon PIM offers a complete organizer and messaging solution with address book, calendar, ToDos, eMail, SMS, Group-SMS and MMS. As the first technology supplier in Europe, the involvement of the venture capitalists PEPPERMINT.Financial Partners made possible the synchronization of data 'over the air', based on the international industrial SyncML standard. A Voice-XML interface makes the PIM additionally mobile. The "Weblicon" 2001 product was awarded the "Usability 2010" certificate for its very simple user operation. The Online Organizer is one of the most successful products and is being used, for instance, by Mobilkom Austria and the German capital portal Berlin.de. In addition, the company offers "Calmeno", a PIM product for small and medium-sized companies, which was awarded a prize by SUN Microsystems in April 2002.
For further information, please contact:
Weblicon Technologies AG
Torstrasse 6
D-10119 Berlin
Corporate Communications
Nicole Meissner
+49-30-590064-460
n.meissner@weblicon.net
Voxpilot Ltd.
Quantum House, Temple Road
Blackrock, County Dublin
Dr. Michaela Heigl
+353-1-209-1968
michaela.heigl@voxpilot.com
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