Newly Founded NTT, AT&T and Sony Joint Venture to use General Magic Technology
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — July 31, 1995 — General Magic, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMGC) announced today that three of its founding partners, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), AT&T, and Sony Corporation, have agreed to form a joint venture company, NTT FAN Inc., to test an on-line multimedia communications service in Japan using General Magic's Telescript and Magic Cap platform technologies.
The trial service will initially be similar to AT&T's PersonaLink Services. The subscribers in Japan will access the new NTT-FAN service through devices running Magic Cap's software such as Sony's Magic Link Personal Intelligent Communicators (PICs). The NTT-FAN test service will be evaluated on an ongoing basis and results will be used to determine whether the service will be made more widely available in Japan.
"We are delighted by this additional commitment to General Magic's technology by NTT, AT&T, and Sony," said Marc Porat, chairman and chief executive officer of General Magic. "It represents yet another example of General Magic alliance members working together to further a common vision. Our role is to support these and other licensees as they enter and expand their presence in the electronic marketplace."
Separately, General Magic continues its work on Magic Cap for Windows, and the company still expects to have the product available for distribution in the second half of 1995. However, increased service capacity will be required to support the anticipated growth in AT&T PersonaLink Services subscribers which may be generated by widespread availability of Magic Cap for Windows. Therefore, General Magic does not expect commercial volume distribution of Magic Cap for Windows in 1995.
To address the capacity issue, the company is working on a Telescript release specifically intended to increase the number of subscribers supported per server. General Magic expects to ship this Telescript capacity release by year end.
Separately, the company expects to report results for its second fiscal quarter on August 7, 1995.
General Magic, Inc. was founded in May 1990 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. Its mission is to create personal intelligent communication products and services by developing and licensing technology to equipment manufacturers, network and information service providers, and software and entertainment companies. To date, General Magic has generated minimal revenues from the sale of products and services based upon its technologies, does not expect to generate any significant revenues in 1995 and expects to incur substantial losses at least through the year ending Dec. 31, 1996.
Note to Editors: Magic Cap and Telescript are trademarks of General Magic, Inc. General Magic acknowledges the rights of the trademark owners for all trademarks referred to herein.
CONTACT:
General Magic, Inc.
Jane Anderson, 408/774-4040
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Viki Paige, 408/774-4434
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