Kyocera Digital Phones To Use Agfa Monotype Fonts

Business Wire, Feb 20, 2001

Business Editors

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2001

Agfa Monotype Corporation, a leading provider of fonts and font technologies, announced today that Kyocera Wireless Corporation (formerly Qualcomm's CDMA phone business) has licensed a Japanese font for use in the display panels of their digital phones. The font Kyocera licensed is a Unicode encoded bitmap supporting Kanji, a component of the Japanese language script.

The bitmap font was customized by Agfa Monotype to meet Kyocera's requirements for displaying the many characters of the Kanji alphabet legibly and accurately on the small, low-resolution screen of their cellular telephone products. Agfa Monotype is the leading provider of fonts designed especially for devices with low-resolution displays, such as digital phones, interactive TVs, palmtop computers and information appliances.

Previously, Agfa Monotype had edited proprietary character sets specific to the display screens on Kyocera's phones developed for their Chinese market. The Japanese font was edited in a similar fashion.

"We're very pleased to have the opportunity to continue our relationship with Kyocera," said Steve Kuhlman, Vice President at Agfa Monotype. "We believe that our expert staff of typographers, large catalog of fonts and outstanding customer support is why customers in the New Media market, like Kyocera, consistently return to us for font support."

With the proliferation of New Media devices that are built around smaller screen displays, the ability to provide higher legibility using lower resolutions becomes increasingly necessary. Agfa Monotype has provided multilingual and Unicode compliant font solutions to companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Sybase and others.

About Agfa Monotype Corporation

Agfa Monotype Corporation is a major provider of digital content for graphics professionals. The company is a recognized leader in fonts and font technologies and an innovator in color and screening technologies. Agfa Monotype is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Agfa Corporation and is part of Agfa's Graphic Systems business unit. Agfa Corporation, headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, is part of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, one of the world's leading imaging companies, headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. Agfa develops, produces and markets analog and digital systems, primarily for the graphics, medical imaging, non-destructive testing and consumer imaging and photography markets. Worldwide, Agfa's annual sales are approximately $4.7 billion. Additional information about Agfa Monotype Corporation can be found on the company's web site at www.agfamonotype.com.

About Kyocera Wireless Corporation

Kyocera Wireless Corporation, based in San Diego, California and employing more than 2,500 people is one of the world's leading wireless phone manufacturers. They create innovative, high-quality wireless phones and accessories. Parent company Kyocera Corporation, headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, has been developing high-tech products, high-performance materials and electronic components since 1959. Kyocera Corporation is recognized worldwide for its commitment to the environment and to the people and communities it serves. The company was recently named by Industry Week magazine as one of "The World's 100 Best Managed Companies."

Corporate office:
Agfa Monotype Corporation         Agfa Monotype Ltd.
200 Ballardvale Street            Unit 2, Perrywood Business Park
Wilmington, MA  01887-1069 USA    Salfords, Redhill, Surrey RH1 5DZ UK
Phone    978.658.5600             Phone     44 (0) 1737 765959
Fax      978.657.8268             Fax       44 (0) 1737 769243

Agfa Monotype Corporation         Agfa-Gevaert Japan, Ltd.
985 Busse Road                    8-1, Higashiyama 3-chome
Elk Grove Village, IL  60007 USA  Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0043 Japan
Phone    847.718.0400             Phone    81-3-5704-3141
Fax      847.718.0500             Fax      81-3-5704-3089