ALAMEDA, Calif., Oct. 25, 1994 -- Geoworks (NASDAQ/NMS: GWRX) today
announced it has entered a broad strategic partnership with Toshiba
Corporation in which the two companies are working together on
technologies and products for the U.S. and Japanese consumer computing
markets.
Toshiba, a leading worldwide supplier of computing and electronic
products, and a dominant developer of mobile computers, said it is jointly
exploring with Geoworks the use of the Geoworks GEOS* operating system
with a wide range of Toshiba products.
The first product resulting from the partnership is a version of the GEOS
operating system that supports all Asian languages. Its first
configuration is Geoworks 2.0J which is the Japanese version of Geoworks
Ensemble 2.0 designed specifically for the Japanese market.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with Toshiba," said Gordon Mayer,
Geoworks president and chief executive officer. "They share with us a
strong commitment to bringing to the mass market a range of powerful,
low-cost consumer-oriented computing devices, and they have the
development, manufacturing and marketing resources to back up that
commitment."
Oka Komiyama, general manager of Toshiba Corporation's Advanced
Information Group, said, "We are pleased to announce Geoworks as a
strategic partner. Their object-oriented operating system software
technology will help enable Toshiba to remain at the forefront of the
changing information systems market by bringing low-cost, feature-rich
consumer computing devices to our customers.
"Geoworks products will promote synergies between a number of Toshiba s
product divisions, leading to exciting new products in the areas of
semiconductors, software and information appliances," Komiyama said.
For Geoworks, the alliance with Toshiba marks another major milestone in
its quest to establish GEOS as a leading operating system platform for
consumer computing devices such as mobile computers, smart phones and
interactive TV.
Establishing partnerships with the world s leading computer hardware
vendors, independent software developers, communication services providers
and mass market distributors is a primary component of Geoworks business
strategy.
To date Geoworks has established relationships with America On-Line, Canon
Business Machines, Inc., Casio Computer Co., Ltd., CompuServe, Inc., IBM
EduQuest, Motorola, Inc., Sharp Corporation, Tandy Corporation and now
Toshiba Corporation. In addition, Hewlett-Packard Company and Novell,
Inc., have made significant equity investments in the company.
Geoworks develops and markets operating system and application software
for the emerging consumer computing device (CCD) market. CCDs include
mobile devices, information appliances and set-top boxes for interactive
television.
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CONTACT:
Megan Manning
Copithorne & Bellows
(415) 975-2217
Deborah Dawson
Geoworks
(510) 814-5750
-- -Brian Smithson brian@grot.starconn.com