Anoto forms Joint Venture with Hitachi Maxell and takes over digital pen production

Anoto forms Joint Venture with Hitachi Maxell and takes over digital pen
production

Anoto and Hitachi Maxell Ltd. today announced they will form a joint venture
company for the Japanese market and transfer the ownership of Hitachi Maxell's
digital pens to Anoto.  According to the contract, Anoto takes over full
ownership, including production, of the Maxell digital pen. The Maxell digital
pen is based on Anoto´s technology and intellectual property rights. 

The new joint venture, Anoto-Maxell K.K., will handle sales and distribution of
digital pens on the Japanese market and selected markets in Asia. All other
markets will be served through the organisations in Lund, Sweden or Boston, US.
Anoto-Maxell K.K. will be owned 19.9 % by Hitachi Maxell and 80.1 % by Anoto and
will be fully operational on July 1, 2008. At the same time, the ownership of
the Hitachi Maxell digital pen will be transferred. 

The joint venture further strengthens Hitachi Maxell's and Anoto's cooperation
in the area of digital pen and paper on the Japanese market as Hitachi Maxell
personnel with digital pen expertise will be transferred to the joint venture.
This will add valuable expertise to Anoto who will continue to run the
production of the digital pen as previously run by Hitachi Maxell. It will also
enhance the opportunities to customize solutions. With the agreement Anoto now
controls the main part of the value chain and will significantly increase its
possibilities to respond to customer demands and further shorten the time to
customer.

Since 2002, Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. in Japan has been working in close
collaboration with Anoto in Lund, regarding the development of new digital pen
products. Over the years Hitachi Maxell has developed two generations of pens
that have been sold worldwide under the Maxell brand name. Just recently the
third generation pen, Hitachi Maxell's first consumer pen, was finished
developing and will be launched in this summer. In 2007 Hitachi Maxell set up
production of an Anoto branded digital pen, taking the first step towards a
closer collaboration which the new joint venture now further strengthens.

Anoto-Maxell K.K. will have its office in Tokyo and will employ approximately 12
people from both Hitachi Maxell Digital Pen Division and Anoto Nippon K.K. Other
Hitachi Maxell personnel will during a period work for Anoto AB and its pen
production and development.

“We are very pleased with the increased cooperation with Hitachi Maxell. This
means that Anoto no longer is dependent on external parties for supplying
digital pen products in the future. This allows us to take a further step in the
value chain and it also enables an increased focus on better meeting the needs
of our big, Japanese partners”, says Anders Norling, CEO of Anoto.

“Collaborating with Anoto AB, we could launch various new products.”  said
Masaru Kamemoto, General Manager of Hitachi Maxell Digital Pen Division. “We are
pleased to be partnered with Anoto as we move into this expanding market and we
believe this new formation will strengthen Anoto-Maxell for providing valuable
digital pen solutions to Japanese customers.” 

For more information:

Anders Norling, CEO
Anoto Group AB
+46 733 45 14 98

Masahiro Takahashi
Hitachi Maxell Ltd.
+81-3-3515-8283

Anoto Group AB may be required to disclose the information provided herein
pursuant to the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for
publication at 08.30 am on June 9th, 2008.

Anoto Group AB 
Anoto Group is the company behind and world leading in the unique technology for
digital pen and paper, which
enables fast and reliable transmission of handwritten text into a digital
format. Anoto operates through a global partner
network that focuses on user-friendly forms solutions for efficient capture,
transmission and storage of data within
different business segments, e.g. healthcare, bank and finance, transport and
logistics and education. The Anoto
Group has around 110 employees, offices in Lund (head office), Boston and Tokyo.
.Among the major shareholders
are Norden Technology A/S, Robur and SEB. The Anoto share is traded on the Small
Cap list of the OMX Nordic
Exchange in Stockholm under the ticker ANOT. For more information: www.anoto.com

About Hitachi Maxell, Ltd.
Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. (TSE/OSE: 6810) is a leading global manufacturer of
information storage media products, including magnetic tapes, optical discs, and
battery products such as lithium ion rechargeable batteries, micro batteries and
alkaline dry batteries.  Since its foundation in 1960, Hitachi Maxell has led
the electronics industry at home and abroad in the fields of storage media and
batteries and the brand “Maxell” is globally recognized. In addition, Hitachi
Maxell is also focused on devices and materials, such as optical components and
functional materials based on Maxell's core technologies. For more information
on Hitachi Maxell, please visit the company's Web site at www.maxell.com/.