MENLO PARK, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 3, 2013) - Ricoh Innovations Corporation ("RIC"), a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of Ricoh Company, Ltd. that develops innovative technologies and creates new businesses for Ricoh, today announced the launch of the Ocutag mobile visual search platform, the first product from its newly formed Visual Services and Solutions Business Unit. The first implementation for this technology has been done with Disney UTV Digital's new smartphone app in India.
Disney UTV Digital has launched its "UTV Stars" mobile app for smartphones powered with the Ocutag platform. The Augmented Reality feature called Snap Search connects users to their favorite Bollywood stars and allows them to click a snap of a movie poster to provide easy access to customized content like movie trailers, behind the scenes videos, Tweets, pictures and more.
"The mission for our new Visual Services and Solutions Business Unit is to understand and interpret the world's visual information to provide an enhanced human experience. High-performance, large-scale mobile visual search plays an important role in realizing that mission," stated Dr. Nikhil Balram, president and CEO of Ricoh Innovations. "We are proud to be a part of Disney UTV's next-generation mobile app, demonstrating an exciting new way that companies can use Ricoh's Ocutag platform to deliver the value of visual search to their customers," added Dr. Balram.
When powered by the Ocutag platform, mobile apps connect users with a variety of related digital media through the simple capture of an image, for easy access to customized multimedia content and other services. The Ocutag platform improves companies' ability to engage their customers by presenting targeted, highly customizable, actionable information. Any image, including those on TV screens, posters, magazines, catalogs and product packaging, can connect users to digital marketing content such as text, video, purchase options and access to social networks.
"With the UTV Stars App, our focus was to provide an engaging and immersive Bollywood experience. The Ocutag platform helps us deliver just that with the innovative experience of direct access content of their favourite movies at their fingertips with a simple click of a movie's poster and associated media," said Sameer Pitalwalla, Director, Video & Celebrity, Disney UTV.
The UTV Stars app is the first entertainment app for smartphones in India that provides Bollywood news, gossip, movies and live TV all in one app. Available for Android, iOS and Windows phones, the app provides an instant connect to the world of Bollywood at the touch of a phone. Smartphones are becoming increasingly popular in India, with market research firm IDC forecasting smartphone sales to reach 28 million units in 2013, increasing to 156 million units in 2017. India's film entertainment industry is the largest in the world in terms of the number of films produced (around 900 annually) and its theatrical admissions (around 3 billion tickets annually), according to Ernst & Young in 2012.
The Ocutag mobile visual search platform (http://www.ocutag.com) provides developers with open APIs and online services to enable and support the integration of visual search into mobile apps. It uses the unique and proprietary Ricoh Visual Search technology that has over ninety patents granted or pending, to deliver industry-leading performance with fast response times and high accuracy, while supporting large databases to satisfy the most demanding of applications. Also provided is access to comprehensive, easy-to-use tools for developers and content experts, as well as rich analytics and extensive support.
| About Ricoh Innovations Corporation |
Headquartered in California's Silicon Valley with a subsidiary in Bangalore, India, Ricoh Innovations Corporation ("RIC") develops innovative technologies and creates new businesses for Ricoh Company, Ltd. Founded as Ricoh Innovations, Inc. in 1997 as a subsidiary of Ricoh and expanded to Ricoh Innovation Corporation in 2013, RIC is home to world-class technologists, accomplished ethnographers and designers, and an experienced business team.
Ricoh Innovations Corporation addresses the large opportunities and challenges presented by The Infinite Network -- RIC's vision of the future in which all things and all people are connected all the time. Through the seamless integration of technology, user experience and business expertise, RIC generates Deep Innovation leading to the creation of new businesses that provide value to Ricoh's customers. Internal innovation is complemented with Open Innovation: working in partnership with a broad range of leading universities and forward-thinking companies around the world. To learn more about Ricoh Innovations Corporation, visit http://ric.ricoh.com.
| About Ricoh |
Ricoh is a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in more than 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2012, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,903 billion yen (approx. 23 billion USD).
The majority of the company's revenue comes from products, solutions and services that improve the interaction between people and information. Ricoh also produces award-winning digital cameras and specialized industrial products. It is known for the quality of its technology, the exceptional standard of its customer service and sustainability initiatives.
Under its corporate tagline, imagine. change. Ricoh helps companies transform the way they work and harness the collective imagination of their employees.
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www.ricoh.com/about/
© 2013 Ricoh Innovations Corporation. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.
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