GestureTek Mobile’s motion-controlled gaming software expands potential reach to over 50 million handsets
Technology available for Windows Mobile 6 and selected models for Verizon, Alltel, Cellular South and DoCoMo 904i series handsets
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, October 23, 2007 – GestureTek Mobile, inventor of the world’s first gesture-controlled mobile user interface and gaming engine, today announced the availability of its gesture-recognition software to millions more handsets in North America and worldwide – including devices operating on the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 platform; more than 30 handset models from North American carriers operating on the BREW platform such as Verizon, Alltel and Cellular South; and the NTT DoCoMo 904i series in Japan.
The announcement comes just six months after the successful launch in Japan of GestureTek’s ‘EyeMobile Engine’ on more than 1 million DoCoMo FOMATM 904i series handsets. DoCoMo is Japan’s largest wireless operator and is known as an early adopter of new mobile technologies.
“GestureTek Mobile’s motion-controlled gaming applications, and other user applications, have captured the hearts and minds of game developers and original equipment manufacturers all over the world, because they’re simpler and more fun than the cumbersome, non-intuitive button presses of conventional interfaces,” said William Leckonby, CEO of GestureTek Inc.
Rapid adoption of GestureTek Mobile’s EyeMobile Engine is also being driven by its innate competitive advantages and cost-efficiencies. EyeMobile software uses a cell phone’s existing camera to intelligently recognize and respond to hand and body movement. This allows mobile handset manufacturers to deliver motion-controlled applications worldwide without the expense and real estate of adding specialized hardware to deploy gesture recognition.
Users of handsets supporting the EyeMobile Engine will be able to download over 60 gesture-controlled mobile games and other revolutionary applications that can deliver the capability to scroll menu items, navigate maps with GPS integration, browse photos and scan web pages on a full browser window - simply by tilting the cell phone in various directions.
The EyeMobile Engine includes three trackers, dubbed Shake, Rock, and Roll, that represent different types of motion for different types of input. Shake can be used for actions such as rolling dice or shuffling MP3 decks. Rock interprets right, left, up and down gestures to generate traditional cursor-style user input commands. Roll offers joystick control by responding to tilting motions to navigate games, maps or Web pages.
GestureTek’s EyeMobile technology is an extension of the company’s core patented Video Gesture Control platform, which has been licensed and employed in applications ranging from retail displays and digital signage to the Microsoft Xbox 360, the Sony PlayStation 2 EyeToy and downloadable mobile games.
About GestureTek Mobile
GestureTek Mobile is a business unit of GestureTek Inc., the world leader, pioneer and patent-holder in computer vision and gesture-recognition technologies for information, presentation and entertainment systems. The company’s software lets users control interactive content, access information, manipulate special effects or immerse themselves in an interactive 3D virtual world, simply by moving their hands or body in free space. GestureTek is the inventor of the EyeMobile Engine, the world’s first software-only solution that provides cell phone users with the ability to play games, scroll menus, navigate maps and browse web pages simply by shaking, rocking or rolling their cell phone in various ways. GestureTek’s video gesture control technology has been licensed by Microsoft, Sony, Hasbro, as well as many mobile game developers, for their gaming products. Games powered by the EyeMobile Engine have been recognized by pre-eminent awards programs, including: BREW 2006 Game Developer Awards “Best Up and Coming Application”; 2006 International Mobile Gaming Awards; IGN Editors Choice Award for Best Mobile Game, Best Puzzle Game and Most Innovative Design. GestureTek Mobile is the first gesture-recognition software provider to be embedded on DoCoMo, Verizon and Windows Mobile 6 mobile devices, and the first to deploy a market-ready gesture-controlled mapping application on a cell phone. For more information visit www.gesturetekmobile.com
For more information contact:
Patti Jordan
Director Marketing & Communications
GestureTek Inc.
416-340-9290 x 274