France Telecom Licenses General Magic’s Telescript Technology
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — October 3, 1995 — General Magic, Inc., (Nasdaq: GMGC) announced today that France Telecom has licensed General Magic's Telescript(TM) technology, enabling France Telecom to offer a commercial Telescript-based service in France. France Telecom operates the world's largest on-line market for real-time public information and transaction services, the Minitel electronic marketplace. Minitel currently supports more than 26,000 merchants and in 1994 was accessed by 18 million users via 6.5 million minitel terminals and 600,000 personal computers with emulation software. France Telecom's licensing of Telescript reflects its on-going commitment to explore and invest in new technologies to make communicating and using its Minitel network on- line information services easier and more powerful.
"As part of the General Magic Alliance which includes leading telecommunications operators and device manufacturers, France Telecom shares the objective of making Telescript technology a universally accepted standard," said Thierry Zylberberg, Marketing Director for Professional Products and Services of France Telecom. "Our licensing of Telescript enhances our ability to bring interactive information and services into the lives of millions of people."
Marc Porat, chairman and chief executive officer of General Magic, explained that "France Telecom's licensing of Telescript for commercial use on its network is particularly exciting for General Magic because of France Telecom's proven ability and experience in creating a successful electronic marketplace with thousands of service providers and millions of customers. As operator of the Minitel network, France Telecom is already a leader in the field of electronic commerce."
The France Telecom agreement is the first commercial Telescript license to a European network operator. During 1995 General Magic alliance members AT&T, NTT, and Sony announced the formation of NTT FAN, a joint venture to pilot an on-line multimedia communications service in Japan using General Magic's Telescript and Magic Cap(TM) platform technologies. Alliance members Sony and Motorola introduced communications based on General Magic's Magic Cap platform in late 1994 in the United States and AT&T launched AT&T PersonaLink Services(SM), a new public network service based on Telescript.
Telescript technology is designed to enable users to launch their electronic surrogates, called agents, into the world of electronic services to search for and monitor information and to interact with services and other agents on a user's behalf. Telescript technology includes an object-oriented, remote programming language intended to simplify the task of distributed application development by abstracting the underlying complexity of communication into a high-level, platform- independent language. Simplified development, portability, and support for rich message content make the technology applicable to a range of communicating applications, from workflow automation to information services and from network management to electronic markets.
With 1994 consolidated revenues of $25.7 billion, net income of $1.8 billion, and almost 32 million telephone lines in service, France Telecom is the world's fourth largest telecommunications operator. In addition to local and long distance switched voice, the operator provides businesses and consumers with pay telephone, leased line, customized data network, wireless, and cable TV services. Through TDF, one of its subsidiaries, France Telecom is a leading European television and radio broadcaster.
General Magic, Inc. was founded in May 1990 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Its mission is to participate in the electronic marketplace by developing and licensing software to leading providers of communication products, network services and network applications. The General Magic Founding Partners Council includes AT&T, Cable & Wireless, France Telecom, Fujitsu, Matsushita, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, Nortel, NTT, Oki, Philips, Sanyo, Sony, and Toshiba. 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 December 31, 1996.
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:
Jane Anderson, 408-774-4040, or [email protected], or Tom Hershenson, 408-774-4343, or [email protected], both of General Magic