|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exit Interview: Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the PalmPilot (continued)
I think it's a very good first attempt. So in a market where people buy these things on their own, they may be expensing them to the organization. But by and large people purchase them on their own. People are very picky about it working well. And I think they're probably going to have fair amount of difficulty this year in the marketplace. I wouldn't count them out in the future but this round I think they're going to have some problems.
By the way early indications from the retain channels and so on is that they're not doing well. I don't' know what you've heardÉ
DG: It's interesting because one of the obvious pressures that we have had as a publication about the handheld device isÉ
JH: You've got to open up and cover MicrosoftÉ
DG: We have a very, very specific business model that makes our publication work, which includes some kind of relationship with the host company and a sort of a central place where things happen and some degree of focus on the part of users and all that. Honestly I've been unable to find that focal point. Which means that I've been unable to see that there's a degree of momentum. I mean, there's a lot of fur flying out there..
JH: On the Windows CE side..
DG: Not on the CE side, on the CE side I could find some things happening. But on the Palm version of it. And we looked at the Auto PC as well, we thought "Gee, that's an interesting little placeÉ" I'm still holding off because I don't know if there's enough momentum to support a product like ours.
JH: Consider what we view today as a successful handheld product, like the Palm III or the PalmPilot. There will be rapid improvements in this market space and we'll probably be raising the bar on what is a successful and acceptable product in the future.
DG: How far out do you have influence on their product plans at this point?
"The stuff I was working on could be very valuable for the next five years. I don't know if they will do all that stuff."
|
JH: The stuff I was working on could be very valuable for the next five years. I don't know if they will do all that stuff. I mean, the only products that I can guarantee that are actually going to come to market, assuming that they complete, are all within sort of the year's space. But there were things that I started that will go out for several years easily. There's a whole series of initiatives there. I can't really tell you what they are or give you a good sense of it. I have had influence on a lot of things there. I have had influence on the basic architecture of the OS. But there are new products that are coming out, some ones I started this last six months that if they actually do them and complete them they'll probably surface 18 months from now and they'll have a long life to them.
DG: Will you be acting in any sort of official advisory capacity to 3Com after this?
JH: It's not clear. We talked about sort of an unofficial role where I could come in and give them advice on particular areas that they wanted. I'd be glad to do that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
