T9 Sold to Voice Mobile Developer

Time Warner's AOL has sold it's Tegic subsidiary - the company behind the T9 predictive text service - to Nuance Communications for US$265 million.

The company aims to combine Tegic's T9 predictive text with Nuance's speech technologies for mobile devices. Building on a partnership between Nuance and Tegic established in 2005, Nuance intends to deliver an all-in-one interface that integrates Nuance and Tegic solutions to support predictive text, speech and touch input.

"The enhanced capabilities of mobile devices and networks have fueled significant innovation in features and services, but their potential has been tempered by the traditional interface on most mobile devices," said Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO, at Nuance. "Tegic shares our vision of delivering an integrated, superior and flexible user experience for today's wireless subscribers. Together, we are poised to redefine the way people interact with their mobile devices, delivering a more convenient, simple way for consumers to control features and access information on their phones, and search and navigate the mobile Web."

In its fiscal year 2008, Nuance expects Tegic to contribute between US$65 million and US$68 million in non-GAAP revenue; $45 million and $48 million in GAAP revenue. The combination is expected to generate approximately $8 million to $10 million in cost synergies in fiscal year 2008."

Posted to the site on 24th June 2007