14 DAY TRIAL // On Thursday, global provider of advanced software technologies ACCESS CO., LTD. announced enhanced support for the Android operating system through joining forces with other companies that form the the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a consortium aimed at the promotion of open standards for mobile devices for the Android platform. According to the company, it is also committed to bring its software solutions to the Android OS, including the inclusion of its legacy Graffiti handwriting recognition engine in the Android Market as a free of charge software solution.
“Since its foundation, ACCESS' vision has been to connect every device around the world through innovative mobile software technologies and services,” said Tomihisa Kamada, president, CEO and co-founder of ACCESS. “Supporting the Android platform helps deliver on our vision to innovate users' lifestyles. We will continue to look for ways to bring our applications and services to the Android platform.”
According to the company, the solutions it plans on making available for the Android operating system include a package of modules compliant with a series of standards like One-seg, a terrestrial broadcasting standard for digital TV, or a series of standards from the Infrared Data Association (IrDA). These modules will be delivered as APIs so that app developers would be able to easily come up with software solutions for the Japanese market. Moreover, the company announced that the APIs are to be made available as free options for the Android SDK.
Moreover, the company aims at coming up with other data entry, character input and advanced handwriting recognition technologies for the Android operating system. “ACCESS is a pioneer of mobile software in Japan," said Andy Rubin, vice president of mobile platforms for Google. "And Japan is seeing a dramatic rise in Mobile Internet adoption of smartphones. I'm confident ACCESS can help the OHA make Android the best open platform for Japan.”
Graffiti for Android emerged into the wild last week, offering users the possibility to benefit from a new input method on their touchscreen devices. The solution enables people to input letters, numbers and characters through the simple sliding of fingers on a touchscreen. This is only one of the applications ACCESS released for Android. Other apps include NetFront Magazine Viewer for Android. Moreover, a Japanese version of Graffiti for Android is expected to become available this summer.
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