Tegic Communications

Tegic Communications, Inc. was a Seattle-based software company founded on November 18, 1996, that developed T9, the predictive text-input system that became the dominant method for composing text on mobile phone numeric keypads through the late 1990s and 2000s. T9 let users press each key once per letter while a built-in dictionary predicted the intended word, reducing keystrokes versus multi-tap input, and was licensed to handset makers including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and others. AOL acquired Tegic in December 1999, and Nuance Communications acquired it from AOL in August 2007 for $265 million, after which Tegic ceased to operate as a distinct company.