T9 predictive-text input developer purchased for $265M

Tegic might not be a household name, but it's a solid bet you've used their software -- the company is responsible for the T9 predictive-text input system that's installed in virtually every cellphone out there. That makes Tegic worth about $265 million, apparently, because that's how much voice-recognition firm Nuance just dished out to Time Warner for the company. (Disclosure: Time Warner is our parent company's parent company.) Nuance is on a buying spree lately, having bought VoiceSignal, BeVocal, and Dictaphone in the past year -- the goal is apparently to control much of how users interact with their phones, be it voice, touch, or text. Here's hoping Nuance doesn't make any sweeping changes while they chase that rainbow -- at this point we're so hard-wired for T9 that it's difficult to imagine that it's licensed software and not, say, a fundamental property of mathematics. 4663 5825, 4897.

[Via RCRWireless News]

[Robbie @ Jun 22nd 2007 6:31AM]

I'm proud to say I'm the first dork. lol

Good luck, guys indeed.

[Robert @ Jun 22nd 2007 6:36AM]

let me be a top dork as well!

[Eugenia @ Jun 22nd 2007 6:34AM]

These guys are the best:
http://www.tengo.net/
Best T6-based input system for touchscreens (instead of the slower T9), using your finger. This is what the iPhone needs, plain and simple.

[Robert @ Jun 22nd 2007 6:35AM]

ive had a smart phone (sold it on ebay so i could afford the iPhone) it was nice but it had a keyobard. since then i have been using a small nokia with T9, it makes it better than having to keep pressing the number keys. Apple iPhone will have something like T9 but it will just guess the word u type and correct spelling, and maybe learn as it goes.

and since then i dont know if im the only one who sold my phone on ebay to buy the iphone reply if you did.

[Robert @ Jun 22nd 2007 6:35AM]

ive had a smart phone (sold it on ebay so i could afford the iPhone) it was nice but it had a keyobard. since then i have been using a small nokia with T9, it makes it better than having to keep pressing the number keys. Apple iPhone will have something like T9 but it will just guess the word u type and correct spelling, and maybe learn as it goes.

and since then i dont know if im the only one who sold my phone on ebay to buy the iphone reply if you did.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jun 22nd 2007 7:47AM]

I never understood why AOL purchased them in the first place.

[Taylor @ Jun 22nd 2007 9:20AM]

I can't believe I actually typed in those numbers to find out what you were saying. Good luck guys, you made me into an official nerd!

[michael @ Jun 22nd 2007 9:32AM]

iTap is used in all Motorola phones for text input, so I doubt that "virtually every phone" uses T9...

[randomguy132 @ Jun 22nd 2007 11:14AM]

I like T9Word much better than iTap.
Haha, of course I had to type it in myself...

[UKStevieB @ Jun 22nd 2007 10:14AM]

I guess I am not 'geeky' enough, the first thing I do on any phone I get is turn off the predictive-text. But then I only send about 10 texts a year, so I guess I'm not one of the people this application is made for. ;-)

[Sporkinum @ Jun 22nd 2007 12:14PM]

Yep, the only cell phone I have is a company one, and it has no texting. The T9 thing comes on by default when I am entering a new entry to the phone book. Since T9 doesn't work with proper names, it is completely useless and annoying.

[Ghen @ Jun 22nd 2007 12:53PM]

For some reason I've never gotten T9 to work faster than normal number pad typing.. I guess because everything I type into it has a formal name somewhere. I prefer palm's graffiti from the old days, when the OS was first introduced I got pretty good at the shorthand.

[jalabi99 @ Jun 22nd 2007 3:20PM]

Using the predictive text settings on your phone are a matter of taste. I remember when I first got my cellphone, I was so pissed that it was so hard to input proper names with the predictive text thing on that I turned it off in frustration...but after a while, I began to like using it. It's an acquired taste :)

[Kim @ Jun 22nd 2007 5:01PM]

Totally off comment... "Disclosure: Time Warner is our parent company's parent company"

[Stan @ Jun 23rd 2007 10:02AM]

I guess i'm a real nerd. i didn't type it and just looked at the keypad to figure it out.

[Sahil Choujar @ Jun 22nd 2007 12:00PM]

Ahaha. Beat you. I just pictured it in my head!

[Manuel @ Jun 22nd 2007 5:48PM]

get a life , or a girlfriend, or more likely an enema.