News | September 9, 2008

ZTE And Digit Wireless Sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement

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SHANGHAI, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digit Wireless, Inc. and ZTE Corporation have signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement intended to expand their existing relationship for the design, development, and commercial deployment of a portfolio of mobile phones enabled with Digit Wireless' innovative Fastap™ Keypad Technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Digit Wireless will work cooperatively with ZTE to design and develop a portfolio of Fastap™ enhanced products for ZTE's 2009/2010 product roadmap for mobile operators in strategic markets such as Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Fastap™ designs have been shown to improve the mobile user experience and drive service revenues for the mobile operator. ZTE intends to use these attributes to create product and market differentiation on a global basis.

"Digit Wireless' Fastap™ Keypad Technology will help provide ZTE with considerable differentiation in a highly competitive global mobile phone market, and help us to achieve our objective of delivering 100 million mobile devices by 2010." said Mr. Shiyou He, Executive Vice President of ZTE, Global Handset Division.

ZTE has already launched two models of Fastap™ enabled phones. This agreement will enhance ZTE's portfolio of phones and smartphones with new designs and innovations such as Digit Wireless' Press-to-Experience, for a one-touch access UI and keypad enhancements for Smartphone and PDA devices. Fastap™ Global Language platform will also be leveraged to deliver simple text entry for large growing markets with complex languages such as India and China.

"ZTE is a highly motivated and aggressive strategic partner for Digit Wireless, and truly understands that service providers need tools and innovations to help them drive service revenues" added Digit Wireless' CEO, Robert Blumenthal. "Fastap™ Keypad Technology is perhaps the most visually impactful innovation for handsets in today's market. The technology carries with it low risk and yields possibly the highest rate of return when compared with other initiatives by mobile operators to drive service revenues."

Past joint handset design and development has won Digit Wireless and ZTE the highly coveted Red Dot Design award in 2007 for the ZTE D-Series 3G phone and has resulted in the successful launch of the ZTE D90 with TELUS in North America as well as the ZTE Evolution with PeopleNet in Eastern Europe. ZTE is also poised to launch another device in North America and Asia this coming fall featuring Digit Wireless Fastap™ Keypad Technology.

About Digit Wireless

Digit Wireless is a leading user interface innovation company dedicated to simplifying the understanding, usability and interaction of handheld devices. As the pioneer and innovator of the patented Fastap™ keypad technology, Digit Wireless provides its customers with powerful tools to improve user experience, enhance differentiation, and drive new service revenues. Digit Wireless is headquartered in Burlington, MA with offices in Toronto, Beijing, Shanghai, and London. For more information, visit http://www.digitwireless.com/.

About ZTE

ZTE is a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. The ZTE product range is the most complete in the world – covering virtually every sector of the wireline, wireless and handset markets. The company delivers innovative, custom-made products and services to customers in more than 100 countries, helping them to achieve continued revenue growth and to shape the future of the world's communications. ZTE commits around 10% of annual turnover to research and development and takes a leading role in a wide range of international bodies developing emerging telecoms standards. It is the fastest growing telecoms equipment company in the world, and is China's only listed telecoms manufacturer, with shares publicly traded on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. ZTE was the only Chinese IT and telecoms manufacturer listed in BusinessWeek 2005's Information Technology 100 and was included in its 2006 ranking of China's Top 20 brands. For more information, please visit http://www.zte.com.cn/.

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