note to the reader

PILOTING
PALM
PILOTING
PALM
THE INSIDE STORY OF PALM, HANDSPRING,
AND THE BIRTH OF THE BILLION-DOLLAR
HANDHELD INDUSTRY
ANDREA BUTTER
& DAVID POGUE
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copyright © 2002 by Andrea Butter and David Pogue. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections
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This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding
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This title is also available in print as ISBN 0-471-08965-6. Some content that
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For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com
To Dagmar, Julia, and Matthias Butter
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Note to the Reader
ix
xiii
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
1
5
19
31
43
59
70
89
102
118
129
144
152
167
179
190
203
214
In the Valley of Dreams
Palm Computing
Donna
Zoomer vs. Newton
The Writing on the Wall
The Zen of Palm
Crossing the Desert
U.S. Robotics
The Shortest Honeymoon
Selling the Pilot
The Eleventh Hour
Inside the Tornado
Microsoft 1.0
Swallowed Whole
Omens
Microsoft 2.0
The Fight for Independence
vii
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CONTENTS
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
Notes
Index
Once Again, with Money
Sea Change
Revolving Doors
Zero to Sixty
IPO
Millennium
Uncharted Waters
225
241
255
266
283
294
308
324
329
339
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Above all, our gratitude goes to Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky,
and Ed Colligan, who generously and incautiously consented to
cooperate with many hours of interviews, which they endured
with patience, good humor, and complete frankness. In a very
concrete way, they made the book possible.
We also owe thanks to these people for sharing their time
and recollections in interviews (sometimes many of them):
Robin Abrams, Al Ahmed, David Anderson, Vicki Barklow,
Randy Battat, Eric Benhamou, Mark Bercow, Monty Boyer,
Markus Bregler, Stephen K. Brown, Bill Campbell, Elizabeth
Cardinale, Marian Cauwet, David Christopher, Byron Connell,
Chuck Corbett, Casey Cowell, Bruce Dunlevie, Martin Eastwood, Bob Ebert, Howard Elias, Shawn Ford, Donna Gafford,
Mike Gallucci, Jean Louis Gassée, Rob Haitani, Doug Haslam,
Ray Ivins, Joel Jewitt, Andrea Johnson, Doris Kanemura, Alan
Kessler, Randy Komisar, Doug Kraul, Art Lamb, David T. Lee,
Bill MacKenzie, Carolyn Malestic, Ron Marianetti, John McCartney, Pat McVeigh, Bruce Mendel, Jack Miller, Daniel Pifko, Kate
Purmal, Frank Quattrone, Chris Raff, Dinesh Raghavan, Janice
Roberts, Michael Seedman, Andy Simms, Joe Sipher, Bill Slakey,
Caitlin Spaan, Janet Strauss, J Tempesta, Karl Townsend, Dave
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x
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Vadasz, Carl Yankowski, and Jon Zakin. We also appreciate the
comments of those who have spoken off the record.
We are indebted to many others who responded quickly and
ably to myriad ad hoc questions: Maria Amundson, Anne-Marie
Bourcier, Allen Bush, Jim Chapman, Roger Flores, Dawn Hannah, Bob Ingols, Claudia Knight, Vitaly Kruglikov, Renee
Lakatos, Scott Logsdon, Michael Mace, Rachel Martin, Mike
Plasterer, Greg Shirai, Geordie Stewart, Chris Weasler, and Bill
Woodruff.
Myra Hart of Harvard Business School provided, with Donna
Dubinsky’s approval, transcripts of interviews she conducted in
1993, 1994, and 1997, which helped jog memories on longforgotten details and chronology.
Terry Desser gave helpful input to early parts of the manuscript. Bob Baxley and Mike Tobias provided their considerable
photography skills on a moment’s notice. Pamela Sklar at
3Com, and Marlene Somsak and Yvette Lorenz-Machlan at
Palm, assisted in interviews with executives, photography, and
information. Jennifer Funk gave friendly and frequent scheduling support at Handspring.
Of the original 28 Palm employees, the names of Cathy Cain,
Carl Chen, Ed Hackett, Greg Kucala, Laura Quirke, Jody
Schreiber, and Jenny Williams didn’t make it into this book, but
their contributions to the company, and this story, should not be
overlooked.
Our agent, Jim Levine, proved that he truly walks on water.
We could not have done without him and his team at James
Levine Communications. Thanks also are due to the staff at
Wiley, including executive editor Airié Dekidjiev, who provided
enthusiasm and direction from the very first phone call, and her
efficient, cheerful assistant, Jessica Noyes. Our copy editor, Tom
Laughman, prevented us from embarrassing slips. Sabrina RoodSinker transcribed endless hours of interviews, which she not
only turned around quickly but also pronounced interesting.
David Pogue: I’d like to offer my gratitude, thanks, and complimentary car-washing services to Andrea Butter, a brilliant collaborator who let me climb aboard the exciting project that was
originally her inspired idea alone. Thanks and love, too, to Jennifer (for the support, the time, and the book’s title), and to
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Kelly and Tia, who stood by me (or crawled by me, as the case
may be) during the many months of this book’s creation.
Andrea Butter: I wish to thank David Pogue for joining me on
this adventure. Without his instant enthusiasm (and exquisite
outline), this book would not exist. Tristan and Isolde were my
near constant companions during the many months of work.
Their unquestioning love for even a tired writer brightened my
life as it always does. Last, but not least, my tremendous appreciation goes to Chris. His unending support made this process
possible.
xi
NOTE TO THE READER
One of us, Andrea Butter, was a marketing executive at Palm
from 1993 to 1999. Writing this book therefore posed a fascinating challenge: How should two authors refer to the one who
appears in the story—as “she” or as “me”?
We have chosen to use the first person whenever Andrea
Butter appears in the narrative. When you read “I” and “me,” we
hope you’ll recognize that it’s Andrea Butter talking, writing
about herself in the story.
We also faced the challenge of documenting a moving target;
the stories of Palm and Handspring didn’t end, of course, when
this book was published. It’s our intention to follow their continuing adventures with periodic updates at www.pilotingpalm.com,
where you’ll also find links, downloadable chapters in Palm format, and additional anecdotes and behind-the-scenes material.
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