Speech Recognition Consumer Products Hit it Big in 2005
Sensory Speech Chip Leads to Customer Success
Sunnyvale, Calif., December 15, 2005-----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 (NASDAQ: RADA), Hasbro,
Inc.'s (NYSE: HAS) 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.
About Sensory, Inc.
Sensory, Inc., (www.sensoryinc.com) based in Sunnyvale, CA, is the world
leader in embedded speech technologies. Sensory is a profitable private
company offering a complete line of IC and software-only solutions for
speech recognition, speech synthesis, speaker verification, music synthesis
and more. The company's products are widely deployed in consumer
electronics applications including telephones, home automation, toys,
remote controls, automotive, security, and learning aids. Sensory's
customers represent the leaders in consumer electronics, including such
companies as Hasbro, JVC, Kenwood, Mattel, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Uniden and
Sony. Additional Sensory offices are located in Portland, Hong Kong, Tokyo
and Vienna.
Editorial Contacts:
Sensory, Inc.
Tom Tolbert 408/240-1577
ttolbert@sensoryinc.com
KPR, Inc. for Sensory, Inc. David Kaye or Roni Kaye 818/368-8212
dave@kprinc.com or roni@kprinc.com
