[gui-talk] Fwd: National Federation of the Blind and Motorola toCooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind

Thu Sep 17 12:48:39 UTC 2009

As the publisher of Tidbits, while this announcement has some potential to
lead to something useful, it is much less exciting than it would have been
even a few months ago before the advent of the iPhone.  By the time any real
products are developed, I suspect the Android will be accessible.  Of
course, I'll announce any real products that come to market, but until then,
items like this get no space in Tidbits because there's no real advantage
associated with them.

Dean
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-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Wayne Merritt
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 6:41 PM
To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Fwd: National Federation of the Blind and Motorola
toCooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind

I agree. What would carry more weight IMO is a press release from the
cell manufacturer/provider  themselves announcing a collaborative
effort, and not just the release from the NFB. I'm all for the NFB
keeping me up to date on current phone accessibility, but let's hear
from other manufacturers/providers as well regarding access to their
phones.

Jmt,
Wayne

On 9/14/09, Joel Deutsch <jdeutsch at dslextreme.com> wrote:
> This is encouraging, although as someone who's been using an LG phone from
> Verizon offering most of these capabilities if you're given  clear
> instructions and are willing to put up with not being able to get more
than
> one or two levels into most menus on the phone, I'd like to know more
> details. Like whether what Motorola plans to offer next calendar year will
> offer much more than this, which I hope, and also which carriers will
market
> the phones in question. As is often the case, a press release from the NFB
> is encouraging news, but I also look  forward to more informative articles
> about this as time goes on.
> Joel
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Pattison" <srp at internode.on.net>
> To: "Access L" <access-l at access-l.com>; "VIP L" <vip-l at softspeak.com.au>
> Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 4:23 PM
> Subject: [gui-talk] Fwd: National Federation of the Blind and Motorola
> toCooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind
>
>
> From:    Freeh, Jessica JFreeh at nfb.org
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> CONTACT:
>
> Chris Danielsen
> Director of Public Relations
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> cdanielsen at nfb.org
>
> Jennifer Erickson
> Motorola, Inc.
> (847) 435-5320
> Jennifer.erickson at motorola.com
>
> National Federation of the Blind and Motorola
>   to Cooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind
>
> Baltimore, Maryland and Libertyville, Illinois (September 14, 2009):
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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."
>
> Regards Steve
> Email:  srp at internode.on.net
> MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
> Skype:  steve1963
> Twitter:  steve9782
>
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-- 
My blog:
http://wayneism.blogspot.com
My websites:
www.wayneism.com
www.whitecaneday.org

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