Development and Licensing Agreements Worth at Least £500,000 Signed with Leading Handset Manufacturer for Glass-Free 3D Mobile Telephone
Santa Monica, CA (July 19, 2005) DDD Group plc (AIM: DDD), the 3D software and content company, today announces that it has signed a development agreement and a two-year software licensing agreement with one of the world’s top five mobile telephone handset manufacturers. The value of the development agreement alone is £500,000 for the first handset with £150,000 being recognised as revenue during the first half of 2005.
Under the terms of the development agreement, DDD will integrate the DDD Mobile™ software with a 3D handset that is currently in development. DDD Mobile is a comprehensive content solution for the emerging market of stereoscopic 3D mobile displays that allows the presentation of photos, animations and movies in a 3D format on mobile telephones.
On completion of the software development phase, which is expected to occur during the third quarter of 2005, the worldwide non-exclusive licensing agreement will allow the handset maker to ship DDD’s software embedded in the handset, yielding a per handset royalty to DDD. The license also provides exclusive rights for the handset maker to use DDD’s real time 2D to 3D conversion capabilities on their 3D handsets in various countries during the term of the license.
Chris Yewdall , Chief Executive of DDD said: “We are very pleased to have been chosen to provide the DDD Mobile solution to this world leading manufacturer. The market for 3D devices continues to develop and this agreement exemplifies our team’s ability to implement and exploit our market-leading 3D content solutions across a growing number of these emerging platforms. The first licensee for DDD Mobile represents an important milestone as the company enters the consumer market for the first time.”
Enquiries:
DDD Group
Chris Yewdall , President & CEO +1 310 566-3340
e-mail: info@ddd.com
Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial
Nick Lambert +44 (0) 20 7861-3232
Notes to Editors
About DDD
DDD, also known as Dynamic Digital Depth, is transforming the viewing experience with applications for glasses-free 3D displays. Its patented technologies enable 3D viewing without glasses; simple integration of computer graphics applications with 3D displays; supply of 3D content through 2D to 3D conversion; and 3D transmission over existing networks. DDD is quoted on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM: DDD).
- For reasons of confidentiality, DDD is unable to name the handset manufacturer however the company expects to be in a position to confirm this when the 3D handset is formally launched.
- A new category of flat screen LCD and plasma displays are being developed and marketed by major consumer electronics companies that provide stereoscopic 3D images without the need for the viewer to wear glasses. Stereoscopic 3D images appear to have natural in and off-screen depth. 3D displays have already been included with mobile telephones in Japan and in desktop PC displays and notebook computers in North America and Japan.
- In 2003 and 2004, DoCoMo introduced two models of Sharp mobile telephone that included a 3D LCD display developed by Sharp Corporation. DoCoMo sold approximately 2.8 million 3D mobile telephones in Japan.
- DDD’s solutions provide an important bridge between conventional two dimensional (2D) applications and content and the new 3D displays. Normal 2D pictures, video and computer graphics images are manipulated by DDD’s patented software enabling them to be displayed on 3D displays without requiring the content to be created specially for a 3D display. DDD recently announced the ability to automatically convert still photographs and DVD video to 3D without any pre processing of the 2D image.
- DDD licenses these software applications, marketed under the TriDef® and DDD Mobile ™ brand names, to manufacturers for inclusion with the 3D display products supplied to end users. DDD also licenses the software directly to end users who already own 3D displays and through an international sales channel. Sharp Corporation and DDD entered into a multi year software licensing agreement in October 2003 that allows Sharp to include a bundle of five of DDD’s 3D software applications with Sharp’s Actius range of 3D notebook PCs sold in Japan and America.
- DDD expects to license the DDD Mobile software library to additional handset makers who wish to include 3D LCD displays in a variety of wireless devices including next generation smartphones and PDAs.
- DDD also intends to enter into revenue sharing agreements with mobile telephone operators (carriers) and various content providers for the conversion and delivery of existing libraries of premium wallpaper, animations and movie mobile content to wireless subscribers. The company expects to participate in a share of the income paid by wireless subscribers who download 3D content that has been converted to 3D by DDD.
- DDD is currently expanding the product range to allow its content solutions to be used on future 3D display products including consumer television.
TriDef and DDD Mobile are trademarks of DDD Group plc. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
