Piloting Palm – The Inside Stroy of Palm, Handspring & the Birth of the Billion–Dollar Handheld Industry - Couverture rigide

Butter, A

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0471089656 ISBN 13 : 9780471089650

Editeur : John Wiley & Sons, 2002

Synopsis

Book by Butter Andrea Pogue David

A propos du livre

Extrait :

Chapter 1

In the Valley of Dreams

By 1998, Jeff Hawkins would be called the "father of handheld computing." But in 1991, he had no intentions of launching an entire industry, or even founding a company. He only set out to create a new kind of computer.

In Silicon Valley, where Hawkins lived, this attitude was bordering on eccentric. Over four decades of technology booms and occasional busts, the Valley had consistently spawned a petri dish of ideas from which new start-up high-tech companies were created. Since the arrival of venture capitalists (VCs) in the 1960s, a techie with a good idea didn't even have to risk his life's savings on his dream. Instead, he'd find a VC to fund his scheme, then he'd quit his job and voilà: A start-up was born.

Driving from his home in Redwood City, Jeff Hawkins passed the office towers of Silicon Valley legends. To the south, there was Intel, the computer chip company that was on the verge of becoming a household name with its new "Intel Inside" campaign. To the north, Oracle, which Larry Ellison had founded in 1977 with a mere $2,000, had turned into a software juggernaut with $1 billion in annual sales. On the west side of the Valley, Apple Computer's sprawling campus alongside Highway 280 teemed with the enthusiasm of a company that hadn't yet lost its mortal struggle with Microsoft.

Everywhere in between, the nondescript offices of unknown start-ups dotted the roads that crisscross the high-tech Mecca between San Francisco and San Jose. Only 1 in every 10 new companies would survive, but that didn't keep hundreds of entrepreneurs each year from striking out on their own.

For Hawkins, it wasn't the business odds that kept him at his job as a high-tech executive. It was the personal toll life as an entrepreneur might take.

"I'm not a start-up kind of guy," he says. "I don't like to work super-long hours. I knew that a lot of people who had started companies had failed marriages. Just observation said: This is a very stressful thing to do."

Nevertheless, in the late spring of 1991, Hawkins, like so many entrepreneurs before him, was in the grip of an idea for a new type of a computer. He couldn't get the concept out of his head.

At 34, Hawkins worked at GRiD Systems, a small computer company on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. It was his second stint there; he'd left his first GRiD job in 1986 in order to attend grad school. When he left UC Berkeley, GRiD was happy to welcome him back, this time as vice president of research.

It was a job that was tailor-made to his interests, which included managing the development of new products, not people. Without employees of his own, he didn't have to deal with the drudgery of the day-to-day administrative tasks common to VPs with large staffs (or to CEOs of start-ups).

One of the first ideas he presented to GRiD's management upon his return to the company was a new type of computer based on a concept called pen computing. Pen computing meant that you could write, using an inkless pen (stylus), directly on the computer screen.

It wasn't a new idea by any means. Very likely the first pair to think of the idea was Jerry Kaplan, a technology executive, and Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development. In a cross-country February 1987 flight in Kapor's private plane, they hit on the notion of a computer that could be used like a paper notepad. Using a pen rather than a keyboard, they thought, would be attractive to people who aren't conveniently seated at a desk every time they need to use a computer, such as delivery drivers, claims adjusters, or sales reps in the field.

Kaplan, an inspired salesman, pitched the idea to John Doerr, a partner at the elite venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers. Doerr convinced his partners to invest in the idea, and Kaplan promptly got $1.5 million in start-up money for a new pen computing company called GO.

Pen computers seemed tailor-made for GRiD, though. Not only did the company pride itself in being a technology leader, but it had experience in designing portable machines, and its customers already included companies who most needed portable, tablet-style machines.

One of the keys to making a pen-based computer was, of course, handwriting recognition technology, which GRiD lacked--until now. Jeff's studies at Berkeley had provided an important asset to both him and his employer. He was the proud owner of a patent on an invention that stemmed, in part, from his brain studies. By taking the approach that a computer could mimic the brain's pattern recognition, he had written software that could recognize hand-printed characters.

GRiD's management green-lighted the project and agreed to license Hawkins's handwriting recognition software, later to be called PalmPrint, for use in the new machine. Jeff would oversee the creation of a tablet computer called the GRiDPad.

The GRiDPad was ready for prime time in 1989--and, in the specialized markets for which it was designed, it was a hit, even at 4.5 pounds and $2,500. To control costs and streamline the development time, Hawkins had bucked the high-tech trend of relying on expensive and unproven custom-designed parts and instead built the device from off-the-shelf components.

GRiDPad's success gave him the confidence to express his views even when they differed from the industry's conventional wisdom--which they often did. Among GRiD's executives and technical staff, he had gained a reputation as a self-assured and brilliant product designer, which allowed him the luxury of plucking GRiD's best engineers to work on his projects. Most of the other GRiD executives respected him, though some considered him stubborn, the kind of guy who was likely to say, about one engineering issue or another, "I don't care what you say; I know I'm right."...

Quatrième de couverture :

The buzz on PILOTING PALM "Thorough, intelligent, and inspiring, Piloting Palm tells one of the most remarkable stories in the history of American business-- the birth of the handheld industry. There are important lessons for entrepreneurs and managers in almost every chapter. A fascinating book!" -- Emanuel Rosen, author, The Anatomy of Buzz "The Palm is so ubiquitous, it's easy to forget what life was like BP (before Palm). If you want the inside scoop on the product that changed your life -- and how it got here-- this is the place to start." -- Seth Godin, author, Survival is Not Enough "Even though I've been a user of every version of the Palm and am waiting breathlessly for the Handspring Treo Communicator, I never knew how Jeff Hawkins came up with the original design of the PalmPilot. Now I do. Piloting Palm is informative, well written, and a good read!" -- Stewart Alsop, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates columnist, Fortune magazine "Piloting Palm is a fascinating blow-by-blow of the company that made the handheld revolution possible. Butter and Pogue have written a highly readable, insightful, and compelling history of the business strategies and the people who have redefined many of our lives." -- David B. Yoffie, Harvard Business School professor author of Judo Strategy: Turning Your Competitors' Strength to Your Advantage "Piloting Palm is a compelling and engaging read. The story conveys the drama, heartbreak, and joy of building a Silicon Valley start-up. Both Dubinsky and Hawkins set an example of how to realize a vision and then build a team that can turn it into reality. This was definitely a book I could not put down." -- Bruce Chizen, President and CEO, Adobe Systems Inc. "An incredible insight on the first successful handhelds ever! I thought I pretty much knew the entire history behind Jeff and Palm, but this book filled in all the details and nuances I never knew existed! My regards to Jeff and Donna for persevering!" -- Kenny West, President, PalmGear.com "This book is a gripping (no pun intended) history of Palm and Handspring. Above all, it's a great story about stubborn entrepreneurs who overcame conventional wisdom, corporate calcification -- and Microsoft." -- Guy Kawasaki, CEO, Garage Technology Ventures

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: John Wiley & Sons
• Date d'édition: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0471089656
• ISBN 13: 9780471089650
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 368