I joined Palm following the successful release of the classic Palm V to lead the Human Interface team. The company was looking for additional break-out products to continue the momentum.
· Recruited and led Palm Human Interface team, responsible for all software programs for the entire Palm portfolio of products, from PDA’s to the award-winning Treo 650 smartphone.
· Awarded by executive staff for outstanding contributions to key product introductions.
· Established relationships and introduced outsourcing model for user research, interaction and graphic design, growing the team to 30 in-house and consulting interface designers.
· Pioneered the first implementations for color, bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cameras, MP3 music, one-handed navigation and the mobile telephone experience into the Palm portfolio.
· amazing learning opportunity working for Handspring founders after they re-joined the company in 2003.
· Lead inventor on 10 patents for novel interfaces, bluetooth connectivity, etc.
I was instrumental in developing new products and capabilities including bringing color, high resolution screens, bluetooth, Wi-Fi, camera’s, MP3 music and video to the platform.
The design challenge was keeping the legendary user experience simple, while adding new capabilities
While at Palm, we transitioned the devices from black and white to color and from low to high resolution. I was the lead designer on the first commercial bluetooth device. I secured 15 patents at Palm for my designs, including pairing and waking up a Bluetooth device. I integrated voice recording, and the first cameras and mobile telephone to be put into a PDA device. Between 2000 and 2004, I established a patent process for the group so that most of the UI designs shown have one or more patents filed. I was responsible for designing a number of key innovations into the Palm product line, each introducing a key competitive advantage.
The Tungsten T3 introduced the first digital and collapsible graffiti input area, an integrated status bar, and horizontal rotation. With Zire 71, we brought an integrated camera experience to market. With Zire 72, we added video and bluetooth sharing. The Tungsten C improved on the keyboard experience and introduced Wi-Fi to the Palm user experience. We introduced 5-way navigation, integrated voice recording, and the first Bluetooth product.
In 2004, my design for universal navigation became the standard across all devices. I collaborated with the original Palm founders who had rejoined the company from Handspring to refresh the award winning Treo 650 with a re-design of the one-handed navigation experience into a cross-product standard.
And the rest is history....
The most innovative product was a (never to be released) prototype smartphone that integrated simple phone functionality and the smallest form factor into an incredibly purposeful, converged device. Two years after I left Palm, the first iPhone was introduced.
