Automotive Mobile Audio Video

Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUAN), formerly known as ScanSoft and a global leader in speech and imaging solutions, today announced it has named Craig Peddie as vice president and general manager of the embedded speech solutions business for the company's Speech Division. Mr. Peddie will be responsible for the continued growth of Nuance's speech applications in the mobile device and automotive markets. He will report to Steve Chambers, president of Nuance's Speech Solutions Division, and will be based out of Nuance's Menlo Park, California offices.

"Craig's success record and deep experience in the mobile device market will fuel our efforts to proliferate our speech technology and applications across a broad set of mobile devices worldwide," said Steve Chambers, president, Speech Solutions, Nuance. "We will rely heavily on Craig's expertise to precisely target our speech solutions for quick adoption by device manufacturers, and broad acceptance and usage by end-consumers who will interact with speech-powered mobile devices to dial their phones, search for directory listings, voice-navigate MP3 playlists, and much, much more."

Mr. Peddie brings more than two decades of international mobile and consumer electronics device experience to the company. Prior to his new role at Nuance, Mr. Peddie served as vice president and general manager of Tegic Communications, a leading provider of predictive text input software and a wholly owned subsidiary of America Online, Inc. Under Mr. Peddie's leadership, Tegic saw its revenues and profits double and the company experienced rapid growth as a result of several global design wins. During his time at Tegic, Mr. Peddie also negotiated a research partnership with Beijing University which led to the development of new methods of Chinese language entry for embedded products and the formation of several local strategic alliances for the company.

"Embedded speech is one of the most effective and efficient ways for people to interact with complex technology applications and devices and Nuance is clearly a leader in this market," said Peddie. "I look forward to building upon the many strategic relationships already in place and expanding the reach of the company to establish new relationships with customers and partners."

Previously Mr. Peddie also held management positions at Motorola, most recently serving as general manager of Motorola's Lexicus Division, focused on the development and licensing of user interface technology including embedded speech recognition applications. While managing the Lexicus Division, Mr. Peddie co-founded the Wireless Village (now part of the Open Mobile Alliance), an international standards organization created to design and promote universal specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence services. Mr. Peddie earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario.