New Immersion Tactile Effect Solutions Communicate Physical Presence, Emotion and Realism

Company to demonstrate new tactile interface solutions at Mobile World Congress

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While mobile communications and content can be highly personal, user experiences can feel lifeless, isolated and detached, with interactions reduced to unresponsive gestures on touchscreens. Immersion Corporation (Nasdaq:IMMR), the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, today announced new build-time interface solutions for OEMs to enrich interactive mobile experiences: one enabling conveyance of physical presence, another bringing realism to the branded mobile user interface. The company will be demonstrating its new Tactile Presence and Integrated Themes solutions, along with other advances in tactile user experiences, February 25-28 in the App Planet Hall, Stand 8.1F49, at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona.

“The Integrated Theme Module enables OEMs to rethink the user experience with tactile effects as one of the tools in their design arsenal. With Integrated Themes, touch effects enhance the whole device design language, not just button confirmation, creating a more immersive overall experience”

Communicating Physical Presence

The Tactile Presence solution provides an API for mobile communication applications to call low-power haptics, also known as tactile effects. By creating and transmitting tactile information between two mobile devices, Tactile Presence adds a sense of physical presence to interactive mobile experiences. Users can feel the remote actions of another through the application of dynamic tactile effects that capture and communicate emotive information, creating meaningful telepresence. As a result, a child and parent can be more connected in a video chat by feeling each other draw and playfully interact in a shared tactile space; friends can inject more feeling into SMS and chat by using LOL and other emoticons that can be physically felt; interactive gaming is made more intuitive as players can actually sense remote partner actions; and loved ones who are miles apart can feel more connected as their fingers touch while they share a phone call.

“Everyone is familiar with the idea of telepresence, the notion that while we’re talking on a phone, we create a shared audio space with others. With Tactile Presence, we have extended the idea of a shared space to include the sense of touch,” explains Immersion’s vice president of User Experience, Chris Ullrich. “The sense of touch is fundamental, emotive and creates a strong sense of connection. With Tactile Presence, OEMs can harness this powerful sense to create more satisfying mobile telepresence experiences.”

The Tactile Presence API is optimized to work with Immersion’s TouchSense® 5000 embedded software for high definition (HD) haptics. The Tactile Presence solution transmits tactile information via mobile network or Wi-Fi and will be available to OEMs in 2H 2013.

Integrated Themes

Mobile OEMs are challenged to create branded user experiences that distinguish their devices in a competitive market. With Immersion’s Integrated Theme Module, OEMs can extend their brand into the device “feel” by tightly integrating the audio, visual and tactile experience. For example, a user experience designed to communicate the idea of tranquility, with calming natural elements, is transformed with the addition of tactile effects. The sound and visual of bamboo swaying is reinforced through the sensation of rustling leaves in your hands. A user interface designed for a branded automotive experience comes to life when you feel the virtual car door unlock as you enter the home screen.

“The Integrated Theme Module enables OEMs to rethink the user experience with tactile effects as one of the tools in their design arsenal. With Integrated Themes, touch effects enhance the whole device design language, not just button confirmation, creating a more immersive overall experience,” explains Immersion’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, Dennis Sheehan. “Incorporating tactile effects into the design stage of a mobile experience is critical. We understand from user research that well-designed tactile effects positively influence the perception of device quality, up leveling the device experience and the OEM brand.”

The Integrated Theme Module is a build-time tool for OEMs which utilizes Immersion’s TouchSense 3000 and TouchSense 5000 embedded software to create high-quality tactile effects throughout the Android OS. Integrated Themes creates a holistic UI experience by injecting specialized tactile effects into the lock screen, home screen, transitions, button confirmation, notification tray and alerts. The module comes with a series of pre-designed reference themes, but OEMs can easily customize with their own assets to create a unique and branded experience. The Integrated Theme Module will be available to OEMs in Q2, 2013.

Immersion TouchSense Solutions & HD Haptics

Immersion’s TouchSense embedded software solutions for mobile devices optimize the capabilities of device actuators to create high-quality tactile effects, with low-power consumption. In Immersion tests, applications with haptics effects running on devices with TouchSense consume approximately 2% of total CPU processing. This compares to 7% CPU processing consumption when running on devices without Immersion TouchSense. Immersion’s TouchSense 3000 solution is designed for eccentric mass motors (ERM) and linear resonant actuators (LRA). The TouchSense 5000 solution optimizes high fidelity actuators, such as piezo, ultra fast LRA or electroactive polymer, to create nuanced and varied effects across a broad frequency range, called HD Haptics. The greater range and fidelity of Immersion HD Haptics open up the tactile channel as a way to create lifelike effects and communicate more meaningful information. More information on HD Haptics and Immersion’s TouchSense products can be found here.

About Immersion (www.immersion.com)

Founded in 1993, Immersion (NASDAQ: IMMR) is the leading innovator in haptic technology; the company's touch feedback solutions deliver a more compelling sense of the digital world. Using Immersion's high-fidelity haptic systems, partners can transform user experiences with unique and customizable touch feedback effects; excite the senses in games, videos and music; restore "mechanical" feel by providing intuitive and unmistakable confirmation; improve safety by overcoming distractions while driving or performing a medical procedure; and expand usability when audio and visual feedback are ineffective. Immersion's TouchSense technology provides haptics in mobile phone, automotive, gaming, medical and consumer electronics products from world-class companies. With over 1,300 issued or pending patents in the U.S. and other countries, Immersion helps bring the digital universe to life. Here what we have to say at blog.immersion.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of Immersion Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

All statements, other than the statements of historical fact, are statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the benefits of Immersion’s solutions (including, but not limited to, the Tactile Presence and Integrated Themes products), and the statements regarding Immersion’s anticipation that Tactile Presence will be available to OEMs in 2H 2013 and the Integrated Themes Module will be available to OEMs in Q2 2013.

Immersion's actual results might differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with Immersion's business, which include, but are not limited to: unanticipated difficulties and challenges encountered in product development efforts by Immersion and its licensees; unanticipated difficulties and challenges encountered in implementation efforts by Immersion’s licensees of Tactile Presence and Integrated Themes; adverse outcomes in any future intellectual property-related litigation and the costs related thereto; the effects of the current macroeconomic climate; delay in or failure to achieve commercial demand for Immersion's products or third party products incorporating Immersion's technologies; and a delay in or failure to achieve the acceptance of force feedback as a critical user experience. Many of these risks and uncertainties are beyond the control of Immersion.

For a more detailed discussion of these factors, and other factors that could cause actual results to vary materially, interested parties should review the risk factors listed in Immersion's most current Form 10-Q, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect Immersion's beliefs and predictions as of the date of this release. Immersion disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of financial, business, or any other developments occurring after the date of this release.

The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" in this press release does not mean a legal partner or legal partnership.

Immersion, the Immersion logo, TouchSense and HD Haptics and Integrator are trademarks of Immersion Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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