February 27, 2008 Following news of a Fastap Hindi language keyboard for mobiles, Digit Wireless has announced that its input system has been certified under the Chinese text-entry standard by China’s State Language Commission.
The Chinese GF 3006 – 2001 certification enables mobile devices featuring the Fastap keypad language platform to enter the Chinese mobile market. The Fastap Global Language Platform increases the performance and efficiency of the Pinyin (also QuanPin, JianPin, and HunPin) input method which is the most commonly used input method on today’s mobile phones. The Fastap Language Platform also supports the ability to directly enter a mixed text string comprised of Chinese characters, English letters and numbers within the same mode without shifting between language modes.
The claimed benefit of the Fastap keypad for the Chinese language is that it allows conventional form factor handsets to have a one-to-one key mapping relationship (separate keys for each letters and number), so when it's combined with standard Chinese predictive text software, existing character input ambiguities are removed. As a result, significant increases in accuracy, and text input speed are achieved over 12-button keypads for the direct one-touch entry of words and phrases. Robert Blumenthal, CEO, Digit Wireless said “Fastap is unique in that it meets the growing text input needs of Chinese mobile phone users for more advanced messaging and 3G services being launched in China such as email, social networking, blogging & instant messaging.”
The Fastap Global Language Platform is particularly aimed at high-growth emerging markets (China and India are clearly at the top of this list), where PCs are scarce and the large majority of new mobile users will come from second or third tier cities and rural areas where mobile communication, information and entertainment needs to be in users’ native languages.