Nuance Communications has agreed to buy the developer of the T9 predictive text input software for mobile phones from current owner Time Warner's AOL.

Tegic developed the T9 interface in 1995 to simplify the typing of text messages on mobile phones. Rather than press 9-9-6-6-6-8-8 to spell the word "you," T9 users can type 9-6-8 and let the software predict which word they are trying to spell.

Nuance plans to integrate Tegic's T9 predictive text with its Voice Control software, obtained through the acquisition of MobileVoiceControl in January. Building on a partnership between Nuance and Tegic established in 2005, Nuance intends to deliver an all-in-one interface that integrates Nuance and Tegic solutions to support predictive text, speech and touch input.

T9 predictive text is embedded on more phones than any other single mobile software. By combining speech, handwriting and predictive text into a single interface, customers can benefit from reduced cost, risk and time to market.