Nuance Brings Predictive Touch Input To Your Living Room
Entering a word or phrase using a 9- or 12-key keypad on your phone can be cumbersome, which is why so many people like predictive text input options such as Nuance's XT9. Now, you can get the same benefits of XT9 that you enjoy on your phone in your living room.
Nuance is bringing its XT9 predictive touch input to your living room by means of TVBLOB’s BLOBbox. BLOBbox is connected TV software that blends traditional TV with the Internet. XT9 will make it easier and faster for BLOBbox users to search for and access content using a traditional remote control.
With the integration of XT9, BLOBbox users will also be able to enter keywords quickly, search an Electronic Program Guide and on-demand programming, chat with friends, send email or text messages, and interact with social media applications and games.
Nuance XT9 Brings Predictive Touch Input to Connected IPTV
XT9 Enters the Digital Living Room, Enabling Faster, Easier TV Menu Content Search and Accessibility; TVBLOB World’s First to Deploy
BURLINGTON, Mass.--Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that its XT9 predictive touch input is entering the digital living room, with new expanded support for interactive, connected television. The world’s first XT9 deployment in the connected TV market will be with TVBLOB via BLOBbox, TVBLOB’s next-generation “over-the-top” connected TV software that blends traditional TV with the Internet for a completely new and unique television experience. With XT9, BLOBbox users can find, search and access content faster and easier than otherwise possible with traditional remote controls, as well as send email or text messages, and interact with social media applications and games.
According to Multimedia Research Group, the IPTV market is expected to reach approximately 50.5 million subscribers globally this year alone– tremendous growth driven by the adoption of digital television and the growing amounts of digital content available through the Internet. But navigating, discovering and searching for desired content, including applications, enhanced network broadcasts and social media, can be challenging for consumers relegated to using traditional television remote controls.
Nuance is bringing its trusted predictive touch input experience for mobile phones to connected television and IPTV, enabling service providers, and TV, set top box, media player, DVR, gaming console and remote control manufacturers to integrate XT9 with their TV-centric keyboards in more than 80 languages worldwide. With this latest TVBLOB integration, BLOBbox users will also be able to rapidly enter keywords, search Electronic Program Guide (EPG) and on-demand programming, as well as chat with friends on and create content for TV-based social media applications.
“TVBLOB’s vision is to provide BLOBbox users all over the world with unlimited access to content from a variety of sources on the Web, completely changing the media experience as they know it. But that experience can be lost if they can’t easily access or discover the content meaningful to each subscriber. With XT9, our customers will be able to put in just a few letters to instantly see results for available content,” said Fabrizio Caffarelli, CEO, TVBLOB.
XT9 is platform-agnostic and can be integrated on any kind of keyboard and remote control, including standard 9- and 12-key keypads, scroll wheel, touchpad, or joystick. To further enhance the connected TV user experience, Nuance has also developed a new XT9-enhanced keyboard designed specifically for integration with living room consoles. The new keyboard features a segmented version of the QWERTY keypad (fully integrated with Nuance’s advanced predictive text capabilities commonly found on handheld devices) that reduces the standard 26 letters/keys to just six input buttons, where each segmented zone represents a subset of the alphabet. Users can quickly and easily select the desired zone to see the most relevant potential word options appear, based on XT9’s predictive input and Sloppy Type capabilities – extending the familiarity of the mobile phone to the TV remote.
“Digital content and social networking capabilities are readily accessible from nearly everywhere – mobile phones, cars, devices, and now through our televisions, creating a unique convergence between our mobile environments and our living room,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manger, Nuance Mobile. “We’ve adapted XT9 for the specific needs of the connected television market as we’ve seen how predictive input has solved many of the text input and content discovery challenges consumers face. Accessing content and staying connected is faster and easier, and it’s all through an experience that consumers around the world are already familiar with.”
Availability
Nuance’s XT9 for television keypads is available today for connected and IPTV service providers, as well as remote device manufacturers. TVBLOB with XT9 will be available in Italy on Telesystem BLOBbox for 199 Euros, and will include Fastweb, a new video content service from ChiliTV. Expanded availability is planned throughout 2011.
Nuance’s speech and predictive touch input solutions are changing the way consumers interact with a broad range of mobile and consumer devices to access digital content, send text messages and email, place calls, and access the mobile Web for information, directions, music and more. For more information about Nuance’s XT9, please visit http://www.nuance.com/t9/xt9/.
