ABBYY Announces the Availability of High-Performance OCR Software for Macintosh Users; FineReader 5 Pro for Mac Offers the Most Accurate and Feature-Rich Solution for the Mac OS.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2001

ABBYY, a leader in document recognition and linguistic technologies, announced today the availability of FineReader 5 Pro for Mac, bringing the company's award-winning OCR technology to the Macintosh platform. The software converts paper-based documents and scanned images into editable text with the highest level of word accuracy and format retention -- even when converting complex pages and poor quality documents. FineReader 5 Pro for Mac includes ABBYY's award-winning OCR engine, which provides recognition accuracy up to 99.9% with 2 to 3 times fewer mistakes than other Mac OCR solutions, including OmniPage, TextBridge and Readiris.

"The Mac community has been asking for improved OCR technology to fill a void left by OCR developers that have not introduced new Mac versions for several years," said Dean Tang, president and CEO of ABBYY USA. "We are answering that need by giving Mac users the most powerful OCR software -- more robust than anything they've seen before. We're excited to make such a strong entree into the Mac market."

ABBYY FineReader 5 Pro for Mac, co-developed by Sound & Vision, Inc., is designed from the ground up as a Macintosh application with features that fully leverage the strengths of the Mac platform. The software's extensive controls, including toolbars, icons and dialog boxes, are designed to work seamlessly with the Mac OS Appearance Manager. The application utilizes AppleSpeech to enable a voice-read-back tool that helps users to easily proof read recognition results. FineReader also takes advantage of Mac OS technologies such as QuickTime, Drag-and-Drop, and Navigation Services. In addition, the program supports AppleScript, enabling users to run the application from scripts, which can be written to automate repetitive tasks, such as recognizing fax files as soon as they are received.

Additional Features

In addition to the features unique to the Mac OS, FineReader 5 Pro for Mac provides an extensive set of capabilities to give users full control over the OCR process. These features include:

-- One-button OCR -- converts paper documents with a single click of the
Scan&Read button.

-- Scan&Read Assistant -- guides users through the OCR process, allowing them
to select preferred settings, which can then be saved to automate repetitive
projects.

-- Direct Access from Word -- lets users launch FineReader directly from
Microsoft Word.

-- Multi-language Recognition -- recognizes any of 117 languages, including
multiple languages within the same document.

-- Spellchecker -- highlights questionable words (in any of 23 languages) and
suggests possible alternatives. Users can magnify the image area containing
questionable text for easy verification.

-- Advanced document layout analysis -- retains the original document layout,
including columns, tables, pictures, graphics, wrapped text, dropped capitals
and superscripts.

-- Image Processing -- gives users control of scanned images with tools such as
despeckle, deskew, rotate, invert or locate blocks.

-- Batch Processing -- enables users to quickly and easily scan multipage
documents and universally apply functions such as read, rotate, locate blocks,
despeckle and save.

-- Image File Input -- supports a wide range of image formats, including TIFF,
JPEG, and PICT.

-- Saving Formats -- supports a wide range of output formats, including Apple
Works, MS Word, MS Excel, or Simple Text. Users can also publish documents in
HTML or PDF format.

System Requirements

FineReader requires a PowerPC-compatible computer (G3 or higher power processor recommended), running Mac OS 8.6 or later, including Mac OS X (classic mode); QuickTime 4.0 or higher; 32 MB RAM (64 MB recommended -- if using 32 MB, 80 MB virtual memory is required); 100 MB hard disk space (80 MB for installation; 20 MB for system functioning). Optional: FineReader supports TWAIN-compliant scanners, digital cameras and fax-modems, as well as scanners using Adobe Photoshop Acquire Plug-Ins for PowerPC.

Pricing and Availability

FineReader 5 Pro for Mac is priced at $129 and the download version is immediately available through ABBYY's online store: http://www.abbyy.com/store/index.htm. In addition, the software will be available in later December through major retailers, online stores, and ABBYY's toll-free Number: 877/328-2229. The company also offers a 30-day "Try&Buy" version, which is a free download on the product's web site, www.macfinereader.com. For additional information on ABBYY or its other products, visit the web at: www.abbyyusa.com.

About ABBYY USA

ABBYY USA is a division of the ABBYY Software House, a world leader in document recognition and linguistic technologies. ABBYY specializes in the development of software for optical character recognition (OCR), intelligent character recognition (ICR), linguistics, semantics, and electronic lexicography. Leading products from ABBYY include the FineReader line of OCR, ICR and OMR software, and FineReader development tools. Companies that license ABBYY OCR/ICR technologies include Siemens Nixdorf, Samsung Electronics, C-Technologies, Sumitomo Electric Systems, L&H/Kurzweil, Arkenstone, Banctec (Japan), Visionshape, Acer, Compaq, Microtek, OTG Software, Grantsmart, Lexmark, Mustek, Umax, NewSoft, Primax and Jet Fax. For more information about ABBYY, visit: www.abbbyyusa.com or contact ABBYY USA, 46560 Fremont Blvd, Suite 105, Fremont, CA 94538. Phone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail]

About Sound & Vision, Inc.

Sound & Vision Inc. is headquartered in Moscow and develops software for Macintosh computers. The company strives to meet all user needs and expectations with regard to interface design and adoption of unique Mac OS technology. Visit: www.svisionsoft.com, E-mail: [e-mail].

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ABBYY and FineReader names and logos are registered trademarks of ABBYY Software House. Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby recognized.