NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Mar 17, 2004--Viewpoint Corporation (NASDAQ: VWPT) - a leading provider of Internet graphics and delivery systems - announced today the official beta release of its Viewpoint Toolbar featuring an innovative visualization technology called Graphically Enhanced Search(TM) (GES). The Viewpoint Toolbar v1.0 is a browser-based application that allows users to search the Internet using a new graphically enhanced interface that the Company believes will dramatically improve the search experience. Users will now be able to:
-- See search results in preview images of the Web sites, speeding the natural surfing habits of ''searchers.'' During a search, the Search Results tray fetches previews of each of the listed results before users visit the actual pages.
-- See fetched pages instantly, using Instant Views technology. Click on a fetched preview and the user is taken immediately to the desired page, without loading delays.
-- DogEar pages to easily navigate back to relevant search results. One simple click on the corner of a preview image makes a DogEar that marks the page for later viewing.
-- Save Visual Bookmarks of favorite websites by clicking on the + button in the toolbar. A thumbnail image of the page is then placed into the Visual Bookmarks tray.
-- Benefit from the Pop-Up Slammer, next-generation pop-up blocking that is immune to blocker-circumvention technology.
-- View 3D and Flash(TM) animations within the toolbar and its trays. The Viewpoint Toolbar provides for dynamic, visual, moving experiences within its skins and trays.
-- Customize the look and functionality of the toolbar by downloading from a growing list of new skins.
-- Receive updates and upgrades to the toolbar technology automatically through its auto-updating architecture.
Viewpoint Corporation plans to deliver new features and skins, enhancements and performance upgrades frequently over the course of the next few weeks and months. The auto-updating functionality allows for the seamless and automatic transition for users between versions of the toolbar.
''As of today, we have effectively taken the lead in the battle for desktop innovation in the search business,'' said Jay Amato, CEO and president of Viewpoint Corporation. ''Up to now, searching has been stuck in the Dark Ages. People have had to use outdated interfaces that have merely been windows to text-based search results. Now, the Viewpoint Toolbar works like people think: with pictures as well as with words. We believe this will make searching more productive, intuitive and fun - with algorithmic and sponsored search results that are accurate and relevant.''
Today`s news comes just three weeks after Viewpoint Corporation announced that it was entering the three billion dollar Internet search business. The Viewpoint Toolbar v1.0 arrived fully featured and on the day predicted, Saint Patrick`s Day.
''As a company, we take renewed pride in delivering on our promises,'' added Mr. Amato. ''And in this case, I feel our users will see that we have delivered far beyond expectations - a technology like none other. One that we expect will change the way people find the products, services, businesses and information they need every day.''
The Viewpoint Toolbar is available for download as of 8pm EST on March 17th at www.viewpoint.com. It`s absolutely free to download and to use. In addition to being available from the Viewpoint website, the Viewpoint Toolbar is being offered incrementally to a first wave of Viewpoint technology users. Existing users of Viewpoint technology are receiving an opt-in message describing the toolbar`s features and offering them an opportunity to activate the bar on their machines. The Viewpoint Media Player is currently installed on an estimated 120 million computers in the United States.
''Once people see the features in action, we think they`ll be hooked,'' says Daniela Botterbusch, Product Manager of the Viewpoint search technology. ''Our toolbar is a powerful reflection of Viewpoint technology at work - from its super fast rendering engine to its graphical skinning technology to breakthrough applications like our Pop-Up Slammer, this is a product that tips the `wow` meter.''
The Viewpoint Toolbar v1.0 enters the marketplace at a time when revenues from the sponsored search business have been increasing 35% per year with growth projections for the coming years at 45%, according to Jupiter Research. Search is now far outpacing the growth of any other advertising medium. The reasons for the surge are straight-forward: Search Engine Journal estimates that 114.5 million (39%) of Americans used a search engine during January 2004 to find products, services and information and spent nearly forty minutes searching during the month. Additionally, a large percentage of search users fall into the 18-34 year old male demographic, a highly coveted segment for advertisers that has been increasingly difficult to reach through traditional media.
Viewpoint Corporation derives revenues from advertiser sponsorships of paid listings and therefore expects a predictable source of revenue from its toolbar initiative.
''There`s no coincidence that our release is on Saint Patrick`s Day,'' said Mr. Amato. ''It`s the perfect time to celebrate our good fortune as a company, being able to deliver an exciting new product at the perfect time, in the perfect place, with the perfect partners.''
About Viewpoint
Viewpoint Corporation is a premiere interactive-visualization distribution company providing visual application development, content assembly and delivery technology to leading companies such as America Online, IBM, CBS SportsLine, Kimberly Clark, Electronic Arts, General Motors, Lexus, Toyota, Scion, Samsung, HP-Compaq and Sony.
The company has about 100 employees at its headquarters in New York City and in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit.
This press release may contain ''forward-looking'' statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar expressions that reflect Viewpoint`s current expectations about its future performance. These statements and expressions are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause Viewpoint`s actual performance to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these statements and expressions. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include those described in the Company`s filings and reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the lack of assurances that: the Viewpoint Toolbar`s graphically enhanced interface will dramatically improve the search experience; Viewpoint will deliver new features and skins, enhancements, and performance upgrades frequently over the course of the next few months; the Viewpoint Toolbar will make searching much more productive, intuitive and fun; the Viewpoint Toolbar will change the way people find the products, services, businesses and information they need every day; that users of the Viewpoint Toolbar will be hooked once they see the features of the Viewpoint Toolbar in action; or that Viewpoint will receive a predictable source of revenue from its toolbar initiative.
Viewpoint, Graphically Enhanced Search (GES), Pop-Up Slammer and DogEar are trademarks of Viewpoint Corporation. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright 2004 Viewpoint Corporation. All rights reserved.
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