FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Brad Davis
800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000
www.FreedomScientific.com
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Freedom Scientific Continues Push for Braille Literacy

PAC Mate™ and Braille Display Prices Reduced

(St. Petersburg, Florida – October 27, 2011) – Freedom Scientific today announced a $500 to $1,005 price reduction on its PAC Mate Omni™ accessible Pocket PCs and portable Braille displays.

The new PAC Mate Omni prices are:

PAC Mate Omni Speech Only — $995 reduced from $1,495
PAC Mate Omni with 20 cells of Braille — $2,390 reduced from $2,895
PAC Mate Omni with 40 cells of Braille — $3,690 reduced from $4,695

The new Braille display prices are:

PAC Mate 20-cell Portable Display — $1,395 reduced from $1,595
PAC Mate 40-cell Portable Display — $2,695 reduced from $3,595

These new low price points make the PAC Mate Omni an unprecedented value in accessible mobile computing for the blind. A speech only PAC Mate is less than half the price charged by competitors, and Freedom Scientific is now offering 40 cells of Braille for about 40% less than what competitors charge for a notetaker with just 32 cells.

The PAC Mate is based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system and is the only notetaker that supports the Microsoft Office suite of applications, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These applications are widely used in schools and at work, and the PAC Mate enables the blind user to share documents and fully collaborate with sighted colleagues.

“A notetaker is a huge productivity tool for a blind person – one that is critical in leveling the playing field for educational and employment opportunities," states Dr. Lee Hamilton, President and CEO of Freedom Scientific. “Unfortunately, notetakers and Braille displays have always been expensive, which has meant that not everyone could get one. Freedom Scientific wants to provide opportunity to as many blind people as possible by making this key assistive technology more widely available.”

A PAC Mate with a Braille display makes learning and using Braille easy. The PAC Mate can translate almost any electronic document or Web page into Braille and then display them on a 20- or 40-cell Braille display. The PAC Mate also has a built-in Braille tutor that provides immediate spoken help when the reader encounters an unfamiliar Braille symbol. This makes independent Braille study easier because it can be used with any document of interest to the student. With a PAC Mate and a Braille display, you can carry hundreds of books on a single memory card or USB thumb drive.

“Our Braille cells are constructed without seams between characters, so the user experience is like reading Braille on paper,” says Jonathan Mosen, Vice President of Blindness Hardware. “Freedom Scientific first drastically reduced the cost of Braille displays in 2004, when we introduced models 40% below the average price of currently available Braille displays. Since then efficiencies in design and manufacturing have continued to make it possible for us to reduce prices and we hope this will make Braille accessible to many more people."

Freedom Scientific’s Braille displays are the most reliable in the industry and are backed by technical support and service teams based in St. Petersburg, Florida.

For complete specifications, visit www.FreedomScientific.com or contact Freedom Scientific at 800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000.

About Freedom Scientific

Freedom Scientific is the leading worldwide provider of assistive technology products for those with vision impairments. The Company sells its products worldwide and has offices in Florida and Switzerland. The Company’s products have been translated into 24 languages and are available in 55 countries. Freedom also has a line of software products for those with learning disabilities.

Freedom Scientific®, PAC Mate™, and PAC Mate Omni™ are registered trademarks in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.