CONTACT:
InternetSpeech
Lou Saviano – Maita/Saviano Public Relations
510 739-0620
Lsaviano@maita-saviano.com
eBizPortals, Inc.
Brad Reinard
408-845-9302
brad@ebizportals.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 1, 2001
Company Also Will Deal Will Allow netECHO™ Customers to Shop Via the Internet Using Simple Voice Commands and an Ordinary Telephone
San Jose — Mar 01, 2001 — InternetSpeech, a leading audio Internet technology provider, today announced a partnership with eBizPortals, a leading provider of mobile-commerce infrastructure software and services, to add shopping capabilities to InternetSpeech’s consumer netECHO™ product.
Dr. Khan, a leading innovator in voice Internet technology, will discuss the growing interest in voice access to the Internet at Internet World Wireless 2001, being held Feb. 20-23 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY.
netECHO™ lets users access any Web page from any phone, and hear the Web page content read out loud. Subscribers can also hear and respond to voice mail, and access voice portal-type services, such as weather reports, current news and stock quotes. With eBizPortals’ ready-to-use “m-commerce platform,” netECHO™ users will also be able to shop for hundreds of products from brand-name merchants and make purchases with just a few voice commands.
The companies announced the partnership at the Voice-Based Web Commerce conference, being held March 1-2 at the Hyatt in San Jose, California. InternetSpeech will demonstrate the new voice shopping capability at the show.
“netECHO™ consumers will soon be able to go on an Internet shopping trip, select an item, and make a purchase — all over the phone,” said Dr. Emdad Khan, president and CEO of San Jose-based InternetSpeech. The company expects to add the voice commerce transaction capabilities to its netECHO™ product line by April, 2001.
InternetSpeech will voice-enable the eBizPortals m-commerce platform, which will give users the convenience of Internet shopping while on the go. Users will be able to shop by merchant or product type, and peruse best-selling products and new releases – all with the sound of their voice.
“These voice enabled commerce applications were created with the mobile user in mind,” said Pandu Rudraraju, CEO and founder of eBizPortals. “Users can browse products and make purchases from name-brand merchants with simple and intuitive voice commands.” Future applications will allow voice customers to access entertainment information, purchase movie and concert tickets, and book restaurant reservations.
“This important partnership makes voice-based transactions easier for our netECHO™ consumers who prefer going ‘on-line’ using an ordinary phone,” said Khan. “Now, any transaction possible from a PC can also be conducted via voice — only easier.”
InternetSpeech’s patent-pending technology will automate the process of voice-enabling the eBizPortal mall without the costly and time-consuming process of manually rewriting each page into Voice Extensible Mark-up Language. It integrates text-to-speech, speech recognition, telephone interface, multimedia and intelligent agents to read pages in real-time.
About InternetSpeech:
InternetSpeech, a privately held company headquartered in San Jose, Calif., develops, markets and supports an Audio Internet Browser, netECHO™, which provides audio-based telephone access to the Internet for businesses and individuals. The company’s patent-pending technology can be bundled with other products, such as traditional computer-based Internet access, or voice mail, and can be customized to meet individual business needs, such as employee access to Intranet sites. InternetSpeech also offers business software that automates the process of voice-enabling a company’s Web site, furthering development of the “voice Web.”
InternetSpeech launched its netECHO™ consumer product nationwide in November 2000.
For more information about InternetSpeech, visit www.InternetSpeech.com, or call 1-877-312-4638
About eBizPortals:
EbizPortals is a leading provider of m-commerce infrastructure software and services that makes commerce simple and practical through wireless and voice channels. The eBizPortals platform and mobile wallet allow carrier portals, mobile service providers, voice portals and enterprises to add single-click, or single voice command commerce applications into their existing content offerings. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara Calif. For more information, please call 408-845-9333, or visit www.ebizportals.com..
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