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ACCESS Announces NetFront™ v3.2, the World’s Most Advanced Browser for Mobile and Home Internet Devices

NetFront v3.2 and NetFront v3.2 Software Development Kit (SDK) Empower Mobile and Home Internet Device Manufacturers To Create New Services

Tokyo, Japan / Fremont, USA / Oberhausen, Germany – July 7, 2004 – ACCESS (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4813), a global provider of Internet access technologies, today announced the availability of NetFront v3.2, the latest version of the world’s most widely deployed and actively used browser for the beyond-PC market including mobile phones, PDAs, set-top boxes, digital television, automobile telematics and more. ACCESS also announced NetFront 3.2 Software Development Kit (SDK), a development solution that provides sophisticated new tools for user-interface (UI) development while enabling the rapid integration of NetFront browser technology to Internet devices beyond the PC.

NetFront v3.2 contains an integrated set of advanced technologies, including Rapid-Render^™, a sophisticated incremental rendering technology that dramatically accelerates the presentation of Web pages, and Smart-Fit Rendering^™, a rendering technology that intelligently renders Web pages to fit the screen width of mobile devices. Also included is NetFront Dynamic Menu^™, a sophisticated user interface (UI) framework that enables the dynamic delivery of advanced mobile services over-the-air (OTA), providing end-users with continually refreshed menus and content, and a mobile Internet experience that is dramatically more compelling than today’s static content. NetFront v3.2 also supports Macromedia Flash and XTHML+Voice. In total, NetFront v3.2 provides handset manufacturers and mobile operators a distinct market advantage with advanced features and technologies that power new services and significantly benefit end-users.

Further empowering handset vendors and mobile operators, NetFront v3.2 SDK contains new capabilities that simplify and speed user interface creation and deployment across a variety of Internet capable devices. Among its new features, NetFront v3.2 SDK allows developers to create one UI and automatically adapt it to the differing screen sizes and formats of multiple Internet access devices and home appliances.

“With the release of NetFront v3.2, ACCESS is again raising the bar on the competition with technologies that make the mobile Internet experience faster, more useful, more productive and simply more fun,” said Toru Arakawa, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACCESS. “NetFront v3.2 gives handset manufacturers and mobile operators an opportunity to provide end-users with a powerful mobile Internet experience.”

About NetFront v3.2
NetFront v3.2 optimizes the mobile Internet browsing experience and stimulates the entire mobile Internet ecosystem with its advanced features:

• Rapid-Render^™ – Renders Web pages incrementally dramatically accelerating the presentation of Web pages. HTML text and links appear first, followed by graphics and table elements, enabling almost instant interaction, reducing wait time and frustration.
• Smart-Fit Rendering^™ – Intelligently renders Web pages to fit the narrow screen widths of mobile devices, eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling.
• R to L Rendering – NetFront v3.2 supports multiple text directions, such as Right-to-Left rendering for Arabic and Hebrew language Web sites.
• NetFront Dynamic Menu – A user interface (UI) framework that enables the dynamic delivery of advanced mobile services over-the-air (OTA). Mobile operators can push and pull their own branded or co-branded content and services directly to and from any handset, regardless of the operating system. NetFront Dynamic Menu also makes it possible for operators to integrate the handset’s top-level screen with applications selected by end-users, including sports scores or traffic information, and ‘skins,’ with custom branded or themed graphics and menus.

With these integrated features, NetFront v3.2 provides a foundation for the next generation of mobile devices and services. Beyond the browser, NetFront Mobile Client Suite extends ACCESS’ extensive mobile technology expertise into a comprehensive operator solution. It includes a Multimedia Messaging client, Personal Information Management (PIM) client, SyncML client, SMIL player, Java Virtual Machine, and more. NetFront Mobile Client Suite offers a complete platform for the deployment of next-generation mobile services, while reducing development costs and time-to-market.

About NetFront SDK v3.2
NetFront SDK v3.2 is the software development kit for NetFront v3.2. It enables application development for a variety of terminals simultaneously, including PDAs, set-top boxes, digital televisions and more. Providing template User Interfaces (UIs) and an emulation terminal, it enables manufactures to develop a customized UI easily; NetFront SDK v3.2 then customizes the display to the screen resolution and format of the end-user device. In addition, NetFront SDK automatically adjusts for different input modes, be it stylus, keyboard, 10-key pad, mouse, touch panel or remote control. NetFront SDK v3.2 for ITRON also contains a “UI Editor,” which allows developers to construct and combine UI elements quickly and easily.

By simplifying UI creation and device customization process, NetFront SDK v3.2 dramatically speeds the time from idea to deployable service. NetFront SDK v3.2 also makes transferring existing applications from one display format to another (e.g. from mobile handsets to home appliances) fast and easy.

Platforms supported:

• NetFront SDK v3.2 for ITRON
• NetFront SDKv3.2 for Linux GTK+
• NetFront SDK v3.2 for Linux Qt/Embedded

About NetFront
NetFront recently surpassed over 126 million deployments globally that include 280 unique devices ranging from mobile phones and PDAs to digital televisions, gaming consoles, and automobile telematics systems from 90 major Internet device manufacturers. NetFront supports a wider range of operating systems than any competing browser including solutions for Palm^® OS, Symbian OS, Linux OS, Windows Mobile/PocketPC and mobile handset environments like BREW^™. NetFront browser technology is used by the world’s leading mobile operators, software providers and electronics manufacturers including Adobe, Alpine, AT&T Wireless, China Mobile, China Unicom, Handspring, Hutchinson 3G Group, IBM, KDDI, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, PalmSource, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony and more.

About ACCESS
ACCESS Co. Ltd. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4813) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with offices throughout the world including major centers in the U.S., Germany, and China. ACCESS is a leading global provider of mobile Internet technologies and consultation services for the beyond-PC market. ACCESS’ NetFront browser technology powers 280 different commercial products worldwide including mobile phones, digital televisions, set-top boxes, game consoles, PDAs, car navigation systems, web phones, kiosk terminals and intranet terminals. ACCESS’ NetFront browser technology is most widely deployed in mobile phones for NTT DoCoMo’s popular i-mode^® and FOMA^® services. To date, over 126 million ACCESS software licenses have shipped from more than 90 major Internet device manufactures. ACCESS was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market on February 26, 2001. More information is available at www.access.co.jp/english or www.access-us-inc.com.

ACCESS is a registered trademark in Japan. NetFront and Compact NetFront are registered trademarks of ACCESS Co., Ltd. in Japan. FOMA, i-mode and the i-mode logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and in other countries. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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