| Philippe Kahn | |
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| Born | March 16, 1962 |
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| Occupation | Technology innovator, Entrepreneur |
Philippe Kahn (born March 16, 1962) is a technology innovator and entrepreneur, who is credited with creating the first camera phone solution sharing pictures instantly on public networks [1]. Kahn has founded four successful technology companies, including his current company, Fullpower Technologies[2], as well as Starfish Software, LightSurf Technologies and Borland Software. He is currently the CEO of Fullpower Technologies, a company which provides solutions converging life sciences, wireless technology, accelerometrics, nanotechnology and MotionX solutions.
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Education and early days
Kahn was educated at ETH Zurich, Switzerland (Swiss Federal Polytechnic Institute), and University of Nice, France. Kahn received a masters in mathematics. He also studied musicology and classical flute at the Zurich Music Conservatory in Switzerland.[3] As a student, Kahn developed the software for the MICRAL, the earliest non-kit personal computer based on a microprocessor. The MICRAL was marketed for vertical applications, and is now credited by the Computer History Museum as the first ever microprocessor-based personal computer.[4]
Kahn is married to Sonia Lee, who co-founded LightSurf and Fullpower Technologies. They raise four children. Together, they run an environmental charity, the Lee-Kahn Foundation. Kahn is known for his passion for classical music and he plays the flute semi-professionally. Furthermore he is competitive in sailboat racing and leads his sailing team Pegasus Racing.
Technology
Kahn has founded four software companies: Borland, Starfish Software (acquired by Motorola in 1998), LightSurf Technologies (acquired by VeriSign in 2005) and recently Fullpower Technologies, founded in 2003.
Fullpower Technologies (2003-Present)
Fullpower, founded in 2003, is well known for MotionX applications for the iPhone such as MotionX-GPS. Fullpower is focused on the convergence of life sciences, wireless technology, accelerometrics, nanotechnology and MEMS. Fullpower's MotionX is the leading motion recognition technology platform. Fullpower's MotionX Technology Platform has applications in renewable energy, mobile devices, wearable devices, imaging, sports, gaming, life-sciences, logistics and security solutions. Little information has been publicly leaked on the specific implementations of MotionX Technology as most solutions are held highly confidential. A list of trademarks on Fullpower.com including TapTap, ShakeShake, TiltTilt, and Tilt 'n Roll provide some indication of what future consumer applications of Fullpower's MotionX Technology Platform.[5]
On June 10, 2008 Fullpower launched a new generation of applications for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. MotionX-GPS is the leading navigation application for the iPhone. [6]
LightSurf Technologies (1997-2005)
Kahn is credited with creating the camera phone in 1997.[7] The camera phone became the founding vision of LightSurf.
The impetus for this invention was the birth of Kahn's child, Sophie. He was so excited and wanted to show off pictures so he jury-rigged a cell phone with a digital camera and sent off photos in real time. In a recent NPR interview, Kahn discusses the social impact of the camera phone.[8] In another article with Slate.com[9], Kahn discusses the invention of the camera phone and its uses today.[8] LightSurf built the first end-to-end solution for picture messaging. LightSurf technology powers the offerings of Sprint, Verizon and many other leading carriers in the world. LightSurf is now owned by VeriSign, who acquired the company in 2005 for $315 million as it was filing its IPO. The camera phone is arguably one of the most successful consumer electronic devices of all time with more than 1 billion projected to be sold worldwide in 2008. Work on the camera phone infrastructure started in 1997. In Japan J-phone used the blueprint architecture set forward by Kahn and his team. The first handset was made by Sharp Electronics and the whole system complete with picture-sharing was made public in 1999 with excellent commercial success by 2001. In the North American market, Sprint and Verizon partnered with LightSurf. However, Sprint was the first to deploy a commercial system in 2002. The Sprint system, designed, developed and managed by LightSurf, was a combination of ASP/MSP solutions. The first US camera phone was the Sanyo 8100 running on the Sprint infrastructure with the LightSurf Picture-Mail system.
Starfish Software (1994-1998)
Starfish Software was founded in 1994 by Philippe Kahn and Sonia Lee. The founding vision of Starfish was "global synchronization and integration of wireless and wireline devices", which translated with the TrueSync platform to: "Enter or edit information anywhere, synchronization is automatic everywhere". Starfish developed much of the core IP for device synchronization, especially in the wireless industry. TrueSync was the first Over-The-Air (OTA) synchronization system. Starfish was successfully acquired by Motorola for $325 million in 1998 and subsequently became a division of Nokia after Motorola's downturn. Today Starfish's technology is an integral part of the Nokia platform[citation needed].
Borland (1982-1995)
Realizing that even innovation such as the MICRAL would not be commercially viable in Europe, Kahn arrived in the U.S. as a tourist in 1982 and won a job with Hewlett-Packard, subsequently losing it because of his illegal status.
After a period of consulting activities, he set up Borland International, although he was still not a legal U.S. resident at the time.[10] After four years in the U.S. on a tourist visa, Kahn was granted a Green Card in 1986. He is today a naturalized U.S. citizen.[11]
He came to Silicon Valley without many possessions. The Borland company was started above a garage, in a rented, two room space over an actual Jaguar repair shop in Scotts Valley, California. Kahn liked to joke he was starting his business the "American way, in a garage". Kahn was financially strapped, with little income, and was unable to purchase cars for his family due to his immigrant and credit status. Former Zilog Inc. advertising manager, Charmaine R. Taylor co-signed for two vehicles, and placed advertising for Borland products her agency created. This allowed him to stretch his non-existent budget long enough to garner sales to pay for the USD$45,000 in advertising. The first Turbo Pascal product ads exploded Borland's name in Silicon Valley, and launched the company financially.[12]
Borland's first commercial success was Turbo Pascal, immediately followed by the first desktop organizer, SideKick. Borland went on to have a line of PC development tools, as well as a suite of office products that were in direct competition with Microsoft and Lotus/IBM. Borland filed its IPO in London in 1986, successfully, followed by secondary offerings in the US in 1989 and 1991. Kahn had become a successful high-tech business executive.
Borland competed with Microsoft in the 80s and early 90s. President, CEO, and Chairman of Borland since inception and taking Borland without venture capital from no revenues to a $500 million run-rate, Kahn and the Borland board came to a disagreement on how to focus the company. Kahn was forced to resign by the Borland board from his position as CEO in January 1995.[13] However, he remained on the board as a director until November 1996, showing support and loyalty in the controversy until he finally resigned from that position.[14] Kahn had been the President, CEO and Chairman of Borland for 12 years.
Borland was bought by Micro Focus on May 6th, 2009. The San Jose Mercury News reported that, "Philippe Kahn, who founded the company in 1983 and headed it until 1994, called the deal a 'great fit and synergism for both companies and excellent outcome for employees, customers and shareholders.'"[15]
Philanthropy
Sonia Lee and Philippe Kahn established the Lee-Kahn Foundation in 1998. The foundation sponsors local and national non-profit organizations dedicated to advancing human growth through increased access to health care, education and the arts as well as animal welfare.[16]
Music
Kahn is formally trained in classical music, composition and flute. In interviews he makes it clear that he practises every day and that music is a key part of his personal life. In particular on his Facebook page he cites Debussy as his "religion". Kahn has recorded jazz albums with professionals that are among his friends. He has recorded three albums that mix modern classical influences such as Dutilleux, Jolivet and Debussy with straight ahead jazz. His albums are available on most online music stores. In 1990 he released "Pacific High" featuring: John Abercrombie, Alex Acuna, Richie Beirach, Billy Hart, Ray Kane and Dave Liebman. In 1991 he released a CD called "Walking on the Moon," featuring his own performance and promoting space exploration. Later in 1992 he released "Paradiso" featuring: John Abercrombie, Alex Acuna, Alan Broadbent, Terence Blanchard, Peter Erskine, Dave Eshelman and John Patitucci.
Sailing and sports
Kahn's focus on the environment and the outdoors lead him to the sport of sailing. Kahn's sailing team, Pegasus Racing[17], competes in many world championships each year around the world.[18] An offshore sailors with ove 1o trans-Pacific crossings, Kahn holds the double handed record from San Francisco to Oahu, Hawaii. Recent sailing achievements also include winning, the double handed division of the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race race from Los Angeles to Hawaii.[19] In this Gizmodo interview [20], Kahn discusses the race.
Philippe's Law
In the early 1990s while at Borland, Kahn postulated a formula of software development productivity that, in a 1992 COMDEX keynote speech, he named Philippe's Law. The law states that the productivity of a software developer in a team of N people is diminished by dividing it by the cube root of N.[21]
Philippe's 3 Rules of Software Craftsmanship
In late 2007 in his keynote address at the MEMS Executive Congress[22], Kahn formulated what he called "Philippe's 3 Rules of Software Craftsmanship:[23][24]
Rule #1 - "Start with a vision"
Rule #2 - "Throwing more bodies at software projects only makes things worse"
Rule #3 - "There are three vectors that drive software craftsmanship: quality, schedule, and features. The challenge is that you only get to pick two"
Notes
- ^ Parks, Maney, Agger, Krey
- ^ Fullpower Technologies, Inc.
- ^ Kahn
- ^ Computer History Museum
- ^ Fullpower.com
- ^ Marketwire Press Release
- ^ Carrol, Paul B. and Chunka Mui. 2008. Billion-Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years. Portfolio. ISBN 1591842190.
- ^ a b Kahn, NPR interview
- ^ When camera phones attack.- By Michael Agger(Posted Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007, at 6:21 PM ET)Slate Magazine
- ^ Unz
- ^ Wortman
- ^ Erickson
- ^ Kellner, Krey, Jeffers, Parks
- ^ Borland press release
- ^ San Jose Mercury News
- ^ www.lee-kahn.com
- ^ Philippe Kahn and Pegasus Racing, Racing Sailboats Worldwide
- ^ www.pegasus.com
- ^ Transpac 2007 had everything but wind, Trans Pacific Yacht Club press release
- ^ Philippe Kahn: Emailing the Father of the Camera Phone as He Sails Across the Great Blue Pacific - By Brian Lam, 7:22 PM on Thu Jul 19 2007
- ^ Zucker
- ^ MEMS Executive Congress
- ^ Fullpower.com
- ^ Johnson
References
- Pittman, Jennifer (2009-05-06). "Borland bought by Micro Focus for $75M". San Jose Mercury News. http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_12309355. Retrieved on 2009-05-10.
- Erickson, Jonathan (2009-11-20). "Turbo Pascal's Unsung Hero". Dr. Dobb's Portal: The World of Software Development. http://www.ddj.com/blog/portal/archives/2008/11/turbo_pascals_u.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-23.
- Wong, Amy (2007-05-18). "Camera Phone Pioneer Ponders the Impact". Associated Press. http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&Date=20070518&ID=6922790. Retrieved on 2007-05-18.
- Seitz, Patrick (2007-03-06). "His Camera Phone Was A Snap". Investor's Business Daily. http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=21&issue=20070306. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
- Taft, Darryl (2007-02-05). "Philippe Kahn: Original Software Gangsta Still on a Mission". eWeek.com. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2090362,00.asp. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
- Maney, Kevin (2007-01-23). "Baby's arrival inspires birth of cellphone camera — and societal evolution". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kevinmaney/2007-01-23-kahn-cellphone-camera_x.htm. Retrieved on 2007-12-25.
- "Father of the Camera Phone". publicradio.org. http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/2007/01/06/father_of_the_camera.html. Retrieved on January 7 2007.
- Agger, Michael. "The Camera Phone". slate.com. http://www.slate.com/id/2157736/. Retrieved on January 18 2007.
- "The 25 near-greatest PCs of all time (1971-1983)". PCWORLD.ca. http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/ad5f8a190a0104080147c30274057315/pg0.htm. Retrieved on September 14 2006.
- Borland (1996-11-07). Kahn Resigns as Borland Director — Cites Increasing Demands of New Business. Press release. http://web.archive.org/web/20010618010852/http://www.borland.com/about/press/1996/pkresign.html. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
- "1973". Timeline. Computer History Museum. http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1973. Retrieved on 20 April 2006.
- Jeffers, Michelle. "Getting Chance To Dance". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/1127/103.html. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
- Kahn, Philippe. "Résumé". http://www.fullpower.com/pk/. Retrieved on 20 April 2006.
- Kellner, Tomas. "Survivor". Fortune. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/0709/128.html. Retrieved on 30 August 2005.
- Krey, Michael. "Borland Founder Kahn Focuses On Sending Photos Over Cell Phones". Investor's Business Daily. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6996492_ITM. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
- Parks, Bob (October 2000). "Wired Magazine, The Big Picture - Borland International Inc.'s Philippe Kahn". http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.10/kahn.html. Retrieved on 20 April 2006.
- Rohrbough, Linda (December 20, 1991). "Borland: Kahn's C-mas CD promotes space exploration - Borland International Inc.'s Philippe Kahn". http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/is_1991_Dec_20/ai_11652030. Retrieved on 17 April 2006.
- Unz, Ron K.. "Sinking Our State". Reason. http://reason.com/9411/col.unz.shtml. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
- Wortman, Victor D. (June, 1997). "Prominent Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Wants His Company to Be the "Dolby Labs of the Wireless Industry"". http://www.fullpower.com/?Page=Vision&Side=BlogArchives&View=1996-1998&ID=1998-June-30. Retrieved on 22 April 2006.
- Zucker, Paul (November 11, 1992). "COMDEX: Kahn keynote - software needs to change". Newsbytes News Network. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/is_1992_Nov_17/ai_13046987.
- "MEMS Executive Congress Keynote". Fullpower.com. http://www.fullpower.com/?Page=NewsRoom&Side=IndustryEvents. Retrieved on November 13 2007.
- Johnson, Colin (2007-11-12). "MEMS breed a new batch of consumer-pleasing devices". EE Times. http://www.eetimes.com/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202804275&cid=RSSfeed_eetimes_newsRSS. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
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