American History 1988
Chapter 335 - 324 Angel Investor

Chapter 335: Chapter 324 Angel Investor

"So, let’s talk about Palm’s ideas now, or what kind of product you want to make?"

After everyone took their seats, Dean initiated the conversation without any hesitation.

As a potential angel investor, he was now like an interviewer waiting for the candidate to strive to present themselves.

Jeff Hawkins had certainly made a lot of preparations. Whether Palm could continue its journey or not, today was a very important opportunity.

"As mentioned earlier, we are planning to develop an entirely new PDA, a PDA that belongs to Palm.

This includes an operating system on the software side, as well as all the design of hardware parameters.

Palm has already accumulated a lot of experience before this, and our handwriting recognition system is almost the best product on the market."

"Is it that Graffiti software?" Dean inquired with his chin in his hand.

"Exactly, that’s the one," Hawkins said, his tone revealing a hint of excitement. "Apple’s Newton Assistant and HP’s OmniGo 100 both utilize this software."

Graffiti is the evolved version of PalmPrint, and its handwriting recognition accuracy can reach 90% to 95%.

It can almost be said to be the best handwriting recognition system on the market, as nearly all other manufacturers have opened up API authorization for Graffiti.

As a result, Palm is somewhat famous now, and the existence of Graffiti played no small part in ensuring Palm did not go bankrupt."

Magazines like "PC World" praised, "If your PDA can’t recognize the words you write, then try Graffiti!"

Dean had also come to understand this information while reviewing the materials.

But just relying on this wouldn’t be enough to develop a quality PDA.

"Forgive me for being blunt, but relying solely on a handwriting recognition system doesn’t seem enough to support the development of a mature PDA product?"

The precedent set by Go Corporation made Dean very cautious about handwriting computers.

"We have complete development experience, such as the Zoomer." Hawkins stated as he showed a PDA that Tandy Corporation was currently selling.

"From design to manufacturing, all the way to mass production, Palm was involved throughout the entire process.

Even the product plan was initially proposed by us, then Tandy Corporation and Casio cooperated to manufacture it."

Dean toyed with the black PDA in his hand, which was slightly smaller than a paperback book, about 7 inches in size.

A handwriting screen occupied most of the space, with no keyboard, only a few simple buttons.

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Dean pressed the power button, and the Tandy Corporation logo appeared on the screen, followed by a long wait.

"Its processor capacity is somewhat lagging, but we’ve already learned from this," Jeff Hawkins explained awkwardly.

Dean remained silent until the operating interface popped up on the screen, then he looked up, "35 seconds—"

"What?" The people from Palm were taken aback.

"The boot time for the Zoomer, 35 seconds," Dean said, shaking his head in disappointment. "If it’s during a conversation, that would be enough to miss many important dialogues."

"Although it wasn’t very successful, it provided us with a lot of experience.

We weren’t able to control the entire development process of the Zoomer, which resulted in some deviations from the original design."

Jeff Hawkins earnestly acknowledged the mistakes he had made, assuring that none of this would happen again.

Dean continued to tap on the applications with the stylus, but each transition required 10 to 15 seconds.

After roughly experiencing it for a while, he set down the unimpressive PDA.

"Honestly, its experience isn’t very good. The slow response time severely weakens its usability as a serious business tool.

Compared to a traditional notepad, it is far less efficient, which means I can’t find a reason to buy it."

The atmosphere grew somewhat tense, but Hawkins obviously wasn’t going to give up so easily.

"Mr. Price, we agree with every single point you have made.

That is precisely why we are determined to design a PDA completely controlled by Palm.

It doesn’t need to compromise with anyone, nor does it need to add features that it fundamentally won’t use.

We believe for a PDA to be successful in the market, it must meet the following qualities.

First, compared to a paper notebook, it should have clear advantages and as few disadvantages as possible.

Second, the user interface should also be perfect.

Third, if users must switch between multiple dialog boxes while using the device, purchasing a PDA isn’t worthwhile."

"That’s kind of interesting," Dean nodded with interest. It sounded like a combination of minimalism and pragmatism.

And this was precisely what was needed in a smart device; those designs that wanted to do everything often ended in failure.

"So how do you assess operational efficiency?" Dean asked curiously.

"There’s a simple testing method," Rob, who was in charge of technical development, took over the conversation.

"That is to count the number of taps needed to create an appointment or add an entry in the address book.

Typically, keeping it within 5 taps is an acceptable number of operational steps.

Furthermore, all the most commonly used functions should be easily accessible, rather than hiding behind menus or dialog boxes."

"Sounds pretty good—" Dean finally showed interest. At least they had indeed learned from Zoomer’s lessons.

"That is our latest design philosophy, we call it Touchdown," Hawkins believed firmly this could make PDAs more popular.

"So, do you have a working prototype?" Seeing them speak so confidently, Dean wanted to see the product for himself.

"Er..." Hawkins seemed embarrassed, "We are working hard on that, but..."

"However, we have a physical model." Donna Dubinsky, who had been silent, suddenly took the initiative to join the conversation.

"Please allow me to step out for two minutes, Mr. Price." With that, she was already hastily rising from her seat.

"Wow, that’s very proactive—" Dean watched her leave, a smile appearing on his face.

"Donna is very dedicated to her work, and she has high hopes for Palm..." Hawkins explained animatedly with his hands.

However, before he had spoken much, Donna had already returned with a wooden block.

"This is the Palm model we’ve designed, and the user interface is roughly like this."

With a thud, a wooden block about the size of the Zoomer was placed in front of Dean.

At first glance, Dean was drawn to it, the wooden block unremarkable yet captivating.

But on its surface was a sheet depicting a PDA in operation.

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Dean couldn’t help but be instantly taken, as it was the first time someone had pitched to him using wood as a demonstrative device.

But against all odds, its UI design resonated with Dean’s aesthetic preferences.

All the function buttons were designed as simple icons.

Apart from the manually entered daily content, the rest of the screen had a similar layout.

It was not only vivid and lifelike but also memory resource-saving, reducing the processor’s load.

"An impressive model exhibition," Dean raised an eyebrow.

"It’s our design philosophy; it’s an entirely different product from the Zoomer," she continued.

Donna Dubinsky generously began to introduce the other designs of this PDA product to Dean.

They had to bring out their best; Palm was in urgent need of investment.

Hawkins secretly broke into a sweat for Donna; he hadn’t expected her to bring the reference model directly from the workshop.

But this was the only physical representation they could offer, undoubtedly better than simply speaking without evidence.

Minutes later, Dean had already gotten a rough understanding of the situation.

"One last question, why are you so determined to make your PDA?

Why not, like before, provide software applications for other products?"

"Because Touchdown can’t rely on other manufacturers or platforms to be realized, only we know what we want to do.

The Zoomer was a lesson; it tied our hands too much. Tandy Corporation and Casio simply didn’t care about product compatibility.

All they wanted was to add more items to the PDA feature list for advertising purposes.

So we must lead the entire product development to ensure seamless software and hardware integration," he asserted.

This was Hawkins’s and the others’ wish; this time they wanted to be in charge.

Good, Dean nodded, at least that showed they had a strong desire to complete this product.

"I agree with your concept, but it seems you haven’t started on these plans?"

Without a working prototype, the system was even further from reality.

"So we need help. We’ve found our direction; all that remains is for resources to be in place."

Hawkins looked confident, knowing he had to display resolve at this moment.

"Okay, let me put it directly, how much funding do you need?

To complete development, production, and promotion of this new product through all stages. Remember, I mean all of them!"

Hawkins and others exchanged excited glances, sensing progress.

"Roughly 5 million dollars," he cautiously answered.

The amount was right, but Hawkins was playing it smart.

Palm currently had 3 million dollars in the bank, so they only needed to raise another 2 million to develop this product.

Nevertheless, Dean’s rank on the Forbes list led him to deliberately omit this information.

Dean made no comment on Hawkins’s quote; he had other matters to confirm.

"This PDA, how much do you plan to sell it for?"

The Hawkins group exchanged glances, then nodded affirmatively, "We hope to price it around 300 dollars at release."

Dean looked up, surprised, "That’s cheaper than all the handwriting calculators currently on the market."

Apple’s Newton Assistant was priced at 699 dollars, and other brands like HP were around the same.

The cheapest Zoomer was 599 dollars, and that was already the lowest price point.

But Palm’s product was even lower, its price only half of those.

"Yes, because we believe only an affordable price can open up the PDA market.

It shouldn’t just be exclusive to business and government employees; ordinary people should enjoy it too."

"Bingo~" Dean snapped his fingers, "Exactly! That’s the spirit! I like your outlook!

Only by truly tapping into the general consumer market can the company grow and profit."

"So... Mr. Price..." Hawkins looked hopeful.

"Call me Dean~"

"Uh... Dean,"

"Don’t mention the financing again. Let’s change the cooperation method, like me directly acquiring Palm."

A mere investment of a few million dollars no longer appealed to Dean for shares.

"I remember you said you’re open to acquisition, right? Now, let’s talk about it.

Oh, by the way, have you heard of Go Corporation? I might have something that interests you."

Dean smiled mysteriously, ready to do something real with the product.