1997

PalmPilot

Jeff Hawkins (b. 1957)

To design the PalmPilot, Jeff Hawkins cut a block of wood that would fit in a man’s shirt pocket and carried it around for several months, pretending to use it to look up phone numbers, check his schedule, and put things on his to-do list. It was a pure user-centered design, unencumbered by what technology could produce.

Based on his experience building two previous portable computers, and the practice of pretending to use a little wooden block in his pocket, Hawkins realized that a portable computer didn’t need to replace a traditional desktop; it just needed to fill in the gaps. Specifically, the portable computer needed to instantly turn on and let users find the information they were looking for—a person’s name or address, for example—or to access a calendar. There was limited need for data input—more important was some way to rapidly synchronize the portable’s database with the desktop’s.

Because its function was not text entry, there was no need for a keyboard. Instead, there was a small rectangular area at the bottom of the touchscreen where users could enter letters in a stylized alphabet he called Graffiti. Similar to traditional Roman characters, Graffiti characters were easier for the device’s software to recognize.

It took a team of 27 people just 18 months to develop the product. But with no money to manufacture or market the device, in 1995 Palm Computing was sold to U.S. Robotics Corporation (USR), a modem manufacturer. Two years later, in 1997, USR brought the PalmPilot to market, selling it for a list price of $299. The Palm was a breakthrough. More than 2 million units were sold in just two years; more than 20 million would be sold by 2003.

The PalmPilot made it easy for users to have instant access to important information, such as calendar items or a persons address.