Nuance and 1-800-FREE411's Parent, Jingle Networks, Announce Strategic Partnership

Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUAN), a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions, and Jingle Networks, Inc., the leader in voice search and operator of the 1-800-FREE 411 directory assistance (DA) service, today announced a strategic partnership. As part of the long-term agreement, Jingle will use technology and services from Nuance to enhance the overall consumer experience for 1-800-FREE411 callers. This agreement, which extends and deepens the previously announced relationship between the companies, also includes Nuance referring and marketing the Jingle Ad Platform to its customers for additional audio ad serving needs. Jingle Networks is the first and largest national advertiser-paid DA/DQ service, and recently hit a key milestone in processing 250 million calls, saving consumers over $400 million in 411 fees since launching in September 2005. This significant milestone highlights the service’s market leadership, marked by rapid adoption by consumers as well as advertisers. According to industry analysts, free DA services are expected to generate 1.5 billion calls per year in the US market by 2010, a dramatic rise over the 135 million calls generated by free DA providers in 2006. The new advertiser-sponsored services are expanding the overall DA industry with new incremental call volumes as more consumers are calling voice search more often to get the telephone numbers they need. With its innovative business model, Jingle Networks alone attracts more than 20 million calls per month, with a growth rate expected to be more than 200 percent per year. "Combining Nuance’s best-in-industry speech recognition platform with our audio ad serving platform provides the highest quality consumer experience at the lowest overall cost. This combination is the only advertising supported directory assistance platform which has successfully scaled, supplying more than 1.5 million speech enabled audio ads per day,” said Scott Kliger, founder and chief technology officer, Jingle Networks. "We tested numerous voice recognition solutions and determined that the Nuance Voice Platform for Directory Assistance provided the highest overall automation rates for business name and business category search enabling 1-800-FREE411 to deliver the best overall consumer experience. We look forward to deepening our relationship with Nuance such that Jingle ad serving capabilities complement the Nuance Mobile platform for each company’s global customer base. "We know that continually improving the quality of the consumer experience and increasing automation rates is a key driver for the ongoing success of Jingle’s business model and rapid growth,” said Michael Thompson, vice president and general manager, mobile search and communications, Nuance. "As a company, we are committed to serving the goals of our customers, like Jingle, which is recognized by the depth and breadth of this relationship.” Building a Business Model that Works Directory assistance services around the world are being forced to respond to industry and social trends that are changing the DA landscape: DA call prices have increased dramatically, growing 100 percent or more in many markets in the past five years, up to as much as $3.49 per call. In addition, an increasingly mobile population – with little or no access to the Internet or Yellow Pages when they have an immediate need for a service or a product – is more likely to need category search services (e.g., asking for information regarding a general business category rather than searching for a specific business name). At the same time, the advertising community is increasingly searching for new channels that enable custom, highly targeted messages. The result of this convergence is a new DA business model where services are free to consumers and supported by personalized advertisements. Building a service that aligns the interests of the callers and other constituents including advertisers and the provider holds the promise of delivering a highly appealing service and an ongoing revenue stream. Nuance delivers technology that specifically addresses the needs of these constituents in the free DA market with the industry’s leading speech solutions for automation, as well as innovative speech-based applications such as Point of Interest searching. This application allows a caller to conduct a search using more narrow location terminology, such as a street, neighborhood, or a particular landmark, based on a relevant business category. This function makes finding a nearby business easy for the caller and provides the advertiser with a more local and targeted caller. "Automated voice search quality is rising and costs are dropping,” said Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media for The Kelsey Group, a leading industry analyst firm. "Voice search reduces the per call cost, and with query costs dropping, we are at the cusp of a cost threshold where proven ad models can profitably service queries.” As speech solutions keep costs down for free DA service providers, advertisers are drawn to this new marketing medium because it allows them to reach a highly targeted audience with an immediate need. Consumers using a free DA service are generally ready to make some kind of purchasing decision at that moment (e.g., pizza, flowers, or locksmith), and targeted messages from advertisers often add value for the consumer by delivering useful information. "Consumers have many sources for telephone number lookups; some are free, some are paid,” said Kathleen Pierz, principal of industry analyst firm The Pierz Group. "If a service is free and delivers added value, the consumers will call more often. To build and maintain high call volumes, any ad-sponsored service must also provide consumers with a positive experience and reasons to call back over and over again. Automation, where it is used, has to work well. The ability to deliver targeted promotional messages in a free-to-consumer call is unique across all other media. This medium has the advantage of appealing to a range of businesses including national advertisers as well as the traditional Yellow Pages advertisers – small and medium businesses.” About Jingle Networks Jingle Networks, operator of the nation’s leading ad-supported directory assistance service 1-800-FREE411, has significantly changed the directory assistance market by giving consumers an anytime, anywhere source of free information on the phone. 1-800-FREE411 is for anyone who owns a phone and needs information but is dissatisfied with the high cost of directory assistance. Jingle Networks has changed the industry by creating an exciting new media channel through 1-800-FREE411. With nearly 130 million annual calls, 1-800-FREE411 offers advertisers highly targeted and timely promotional opportunities to reach a large but targeted customer base who are ready-to-buy, garnering a response rate twice that of other direct response media. For more information, visit: www.free411.com. About Nuance Communications, Inc. Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com. 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