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<h1><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b></h1><b> <br><br>
CONTACT:<br><br>
</b>Chris Danielsen<br><br>
Director of Public Relations<br><br>
National Federation of the Blind<br><br>
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<br><br>
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br><br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a><br><br>
<br><br>
Jennifer Erickson<br><br>
Motorola, Inc.<br><br>
(847) 435-5320<br><br>
Jennifer.erickson@motorola.com<br><br>
<div align="center"><h1><b>National Federation of the Blind and
Motorola<br>
to Cooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the
Blind</b></h1></div>
<br><br>
<b>Baltimore, Maryland and Libertyville, Illinois (September 14,
2009</b>): 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. <br><br>
<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<br><br>
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.”<br><br>
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