Vlingo Brings Mobile Voice Recognition Technology to Europe With Availability on the Ovi Store by Nokia

LONDON -

- Nokia Preloads Vlingo on the New Nokia N97 & Nokia E72

The world’s most popular mobile voice-powered application is set to transform the on-the-go lives of many people in Europe - with a fast and easy-to-use mobile interface that will enable them to save time and get more done.

(Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090901/358224 )

Beginning today, Vlingo is available immediately as a download via the Ovi Store by Nokia for consumers in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain for selected devices. Additional language and devices are expected to be added over the coming months. Go to the Ovi Store by Nokia to download.

In a move that will make Vlingo’s revolutionary speech recognition solution available out of the box to consumers worldwide, Vlingo will be preloaded on two of Nokia’s hero devices — the Nokia N97 and the Nokia E72. These devices are scheduled to ship with the Vlingo application at the end of Q3. In addition to English, Vlingo will be available in German, Spanish and Italian - with further European languages to follow shortly.

Having taken North America by storm with millions of users in less than a year, Vlingo is now available for European customers. After a simple download to their device, consumers can talk to their mobile device using ordinary speech to instantly send a text or an email message, call a friend, create a note to themselves, or search the web. They simply say what they want - such as “Find a Pizza Express in Cambridge” or “Send message to Ashley, message, congratulations on the launch”.

Just as the Apple iPhone has popularized touch interfaces, Vlingo users are proving that voice interfaces are also critical for mobile devices. “Mobile users have been restricted by triple tapping and tiny keyboards for far too long,” says Ashley Griffiths, MD of Vlingo’s EMEA region. “Our experience in the USA is that once people discover it, they see the benefits immediately and then use it routinely - with text, web search and voice dial the three most popular areas. Nokia has also seen these results and we view this deal with them as an important validation of our approach to the global marketplace.”

The basic version of Vlingo, available as a free download, allows users to use voice commands to:

- open third party and native applications such as camera and calendar

- send a limited number of text or email messages

- find and dial numbers

- search the web

- create notes to themselves

For a one-off upgrade fee of GBP12.99 / EUR14.99 or a monthly fee of GBP3.49 / EUR3.99, in the UK, Germany, Italy & Spain, Vlingo Plus allows users to send unlimited text and email messages.

The Nokia E72 and the new Nokia N97 PR 2.0 software will have the basic version of Vlingo preloaded and all users will have the option to upgrade to Vlingo Plus within the application. Nokia N97 PR 2.0 software users will also be able to update their Facebook status by voice.

Boston based start-up Vlingo Corporation pioneered the ground-breaking new mobile voice recognition technology. By giving users the ability to simply press a button and speak normally to use virtually any application on their device, Vlingo dramatically improves the mobile phone experience.

Unlike conventional speech recognition applications, Vlingo is the only unconstrained, 100% technology based, cross-application voice user interface in the industry. A networked-based solution, Vlingo allows users to say what they want, how they want, and Vlingo delivers the results - word for word.

Vlingo differentiates itself from other speech recognition systems in the market by continually adapting to the voice and vocabulary of users. Vlingo systems perform this adaptation for each individual user as well as across users. For example, if a user speaks a new business name, the system learns that name and will understand it for all users. See the Vlingo Technology White Paper bit.ly/m559w for more details on how the technology works.

Vlingo is available across a range of different platforms and devices. Visit www.vlingo.com for the full list.

Follow vlingo on Twitter at twitter.com/vlingo and on the Vlingo blog at blog.vlingo.com for regular news and updates.

About Vlingo

With Vlingo, users can instantly send a text or email message, call a friend, search the web, update their Facebook or Twitter status and more by just speaking into their phone. As the inventor of the mobile phone “voice user interface,” Vlingo is the only technology that allows people to use virtually any application on the phone simply by pressing a button and speaking to the phone. Founded in 2006, Vlingo is backed by Charles River Ventures, Sigma Partners, Yahoo! and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, go to www.vlingo.com

Source: Vlingo

Contacts: Erin Keleher, Vlingo, +1-617-283-2285, erin at vlingo.com. Sarah Tourville, Voice It Consultancy, +44-7856 942900, stourville at voiceitconsultancy.com