Press Releases

PalmSource Selects ACCESS NetFront™ Browser Engine as Core Technology for PalmSource Web Browser 3.0

Selection Reinforces Global Strength of NetFront Browser Technology

TOKYO, Japan / FREMONT, USA / OBERHAUSEN, Germany – October 13, 2004 – ACCESS Co., Ltd., (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4813), a global provider of mobile content delivery and Internet access technologies, announced that its NetFront Browser Engine^™ has been selected by PalmSource as the core technology for its new PalmSource^™ Web Browser 3.0 for Palm OS^® Cobalt. The multiyear agreement builds upon PalmSource’s existing relationship with ACCESS, which also provided NetFront core browser technology for Palm OS Garnet^™.

“NetFront browser technology was integral to the success of Palm OS Garnet, so we chose to collaborate once again with ACCESS on our latest browser for Palm OS Cobalt,” said Larry Slotnick, chief products officer, PalmSource. “By extending the partnership with ACCESS, we believe that PalmSource will be able to bring the latest mobile Internet browsing technologies to our standard platform Web browser, speeding time to market for Palm OS licensees looking to create new classes of connected mobile devices.”

NetFront Browser Engine brings a host of new rendering technologies to PalmSource Web Browser 3.0, including Smart-Fit Rendering^™, an advanced technology that intelligently renders Web pages to fit the narrow screen widths of mobile devices, eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling, as well as Rapid-Render^™, a progressive rendering technology that dramatically speeds page rendering in mobile environments. NetFront Browser Engine supports the very latest Internet standards endorsed by the W3C including support for HTML 4.01, XHTML Mobile Profile, and Compact HTML as well as broad multimedia plug-in support, and advanced features specifically designed for smart mobile devices, such as multi-window browsing, drag-scrolling and off-line browsing.

“PalmSource’s decision to use NetFront Browser Engine as the core browser technology for PalmSource Web Browser 3.0 is further validation of the strength of our technology,” said Toru Arakawa, president and CEO of ACCESS. “We’re thrilled to work with PalmSource to provide new levels of mobile Internet browsing capability to the Palm Powered^™ community.”

About NetFront
NetFront recently surpassed over 139 million deployments globally that include 293 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 293 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 139 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 and i-mode are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and in other countries. NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA service is available only to subscribers in Japan.

PalmSource, Palm Powered and Palm OS are trademarks or registered trademarks of PalmSource, Inc. or its affiliate in the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other countries. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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