[Blindtlk] National Federation of the Blind and Motorola to Cooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind

[Freeh, Jessica]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org



Jennifer Erickson

Motorola, Inc.

(847) 435-5320

Jennifer.erickson at motorola.com


National Federation of the Blind and Motorola
  to Cooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind



Baltimore, Maryland and Libertyville, Illinois (September 14, 2009): 
The National Federation of the Blind, the nation's oldest and largest 
organization of blind people and the leading advocate for making 
mainstream devices accessible to the blind, and Motorola Inc., a 
leading manufacturer of cell phones and other mobile communications 
devices, announced today that they have entered into a cooperation 
agreement to promote technologies that improve the accessibility of 
cell phones to blind consumers.



Certain future Motorola cell phones will provide verbal readouts of 
information such as the time and date, battery level, signal 
strength, user's phone number, caller ID information for incoming 
calls, missed and received calls, and voice mail alerts.  Blind users 
will also be able to take advantage of verbal readouts and 
voice-command features for ring tone status, inputting and accessing 
contacts, and various other settings.  Motorola expects these cell 
phones to be available in 2010.  The parties have also agreed to work 
together to make additional phones and features accessible to blind users.



Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, 
said: "In an age where productivity and success increasingly depend 
on access to mobile technology such as cellular telephones, it is 
critical that blind Americans have equal access to today's cell 
phones through user interfaces that do not require vision.  The 
National Federation of the Blind appreciates Motorola's commitment to 
making the features of its cell phone products accessible to blind 
users without the need for third-party software, and we look forward 
to working together with Motorola to make future improvements to the 
accessibility of telecommunication technology."



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