Speech Recognition Consumer Products Hit it Big in 2005 (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Speech Recognition Consumer Products Hit it Big in 2005
Friday, December 16, 2005
http://www.indiacar.net/news/n19468.htm

	 SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- Sensory, Inc., the world leader in embedded speech
technologies, today announced that in 2005 the company achieved record
revenues and profits due to its customers' success in releasing speech
enabled products, with revenues increasing 70% over the preceding year.
Customers such as Radica Games , Hasbro, Inc.'s Tiger Electronics and
Innotech Systems have contributed to this outstanding year. "We are
ecstatic to have so many customers flourishing in the marketplace,"
said Todd Mozer, Chairman and CEO of Sensory. "Thanks to their efforts
Sensory has had an outstanding year, enabling us to fund many exciting
new speech related R&D projects for the years to come."

Market Dynamics Show Trends for High Tech and Speech Recognition
Consumer Electronics

The hot items on every kid's Christmas list this year are products like
iPods and cell phones, products not designed primarily for children and
certainly not priced for them. This phenomenon is called "age
compression," where kids are more familiar with computers than many
adults and are showing increasingly sophisticated tastes in toys. In an
effort to stem this effect, many manufacturers are blurring the line
between toys and consumer goods by integrating hi-tech features like
speech and animatronics. In the February 17th online issue of the New
York Times, David Riley of the NPD Group, a market research firm based
in New York, said the shift is part of an effort by the $20 billion toy
industry to reclaim dollars lost in recent years to high-tech products
designed mostly for adults yet increasingly coveted by children.

Radica Games has taken this approach with its Girl Tech(R) Password
Journal(R), featuring a Sensory IC for speaker verification. According
to Chief Executive Officer Pat Feely, "(Q3) was the highest level of
sales in any quarter ever at Radica, and our earnings were strong as
well, with an operating margin over 18%...It demonstrates that our
strategy of focusing on electronic entertainment for casual gamers is
the right strategy for today's tech-savvy consumers." Earlier this
year, Mr. Feely was quoted on Forbes.com regarding Radica's financial
performance, "Of particular note is the strength we are seeing from our
newly introduced fourth version of the Girl Tech Password Journal."

For the aging baby-boomers, the need for easier-to-use products is
helping to drive demand for more speech I/O enabled interactions. This
market segment has embraced products that don't require manual
dexterity or good vision. Voice controlled home electronics, such as
clocks, lighting and remote controls have taken off in the last several
years.

Products Featuring Sensory ICs Winning Sales Accolades

Over the past six years, Toy Wishes magazine has accurately predicted
the best-selling and most popular toys of the year, from the more than
150,000 toys on the market at any given time. One of this year's Hot
Dozen Picks includes the former 1999 and 2000 Toy of The Year, Furby
from Hasbro's Tiger Electronics. He's back and more fun than ever
thanks to an advanced technology called "emoto-tronics." Sensory's
RSC-4128 IC provides the "brains" for motor controls and voice
recognition and synthesis, so Furby can communicate in his own language
-- "Furbish" -- or in one of seven international languages while using
facial expressions and synchronized body motions to display his
emotions.

According to the December 3rd, 2005 online issue of Australia's Sydney
World Herald, "Barbie has lost her crown to Amazing Amanda, a doll with
the ultimate accessory -- an electronic brain." Making the top ten lists
for Christmas gifts from retailers like Woolworths and Hamsleys in the
UK, as well as Wired Magazine's Top 100+ technophile's holiday wish
list, Amazing Amanda is another product powered by Sensory's RSC-4128
IC. Playmates Holdings Limited (HKEx Stock Code: 635), parent company
of Playmates Toys and makers of the doll, stated in their August 29th
press release that "Amanda is the most technologically sophisticated
and truly interactive doll and will add never before seen dimension to
the traditional nurturing and caring play pattern. Amanda employs
speaker independent voice recognition, lifelike animatronics and smart
accessory recognition to create a new, magical play experience for
little girls." Playmates sales were up over 6% from last year, despite
a 6% downturn in the U.S. toy market according to the company's
release.

The Wall Street Journal recently proclaimed that the FamilyFun T.O.Y.
Awards are "as coveted in the toy industry as the Oscar is in
Hollywood." This competition relies on kid testers and an independent
research firm to sift through the more than 500 toys submitted by
nearly 200 companies to come up with the 21 best toys of the year.
FURREAL FRIENDS SCAMPS: MY PLAYFUL PUP, from Hasbro's Tiger
Electronics, features an RSC-4128 and was voted the favorite playmate
for children aged 5-7. Requiring no training, Scamps comes out of the
package knowing seven commands. And unlike the family dog, he'll
actually listen -- literally sitting and speaking on command.

Other consumer electronic companies like HOT from Taiwan, CyberWorkshops
from Hong Kong, and Innotech in the US are seeing success designing
household products featuring speech recognition. Speech-enabled remote
controls, messaging systems, and clocks are selling well, and
aggressive new products featuring Sensory's speech technologies are in
the works. According to Len Novara, CEO of Innotech Systems, "Our first
generation InVoca universal remote control has been a big success,
selling many hundreds of thousands of units. We are now working on a
line of products and enhanced universal remotes with the Sensory
processors because we see the market for speech recognition consumer
electronics really starting to open up."

RSC Processor & Tools Provide Keys to Success with Speech Recognition

Sensory's strategy is to offer industry-best embedded speech
technologies at the lowest cost possible. This gives any consumer
product, regardless of price or complexity, the potential to speak and
hear. Sensory offers multiple options for introducing speech into
consumer goods, from software-only solutions to a variety of integrated
circuits. For mass production and access to all of Sensory's world-class
speech technologies, the RSC-4128 IC is available in die and package
form and is supported by a full suite of development tools including
Sensory's patented Quick T2SI(TM) technology.

For smaller scale projects, Sensory offers the VR Stamp(TM) Toolkit,
which features an RSC-4128 chip that has been embedded onto an industry
standard 40-pin DIP footprint module. Available online at retail outlets
such as DigiKey (www.digikey.com), the VR Stamp Toolkit includes
everything necessary to complete a basic speech recognition project for
prototyping or production. Sensory also offers the SC-series of speech
controllers for low-cost, synthesis-only applications.

  Source : http://www.theautochannel.com (12/15/2005)