Cupertino to Corvallis to Singapore to Melbourne to San Diego: Are We There Yet?

1. Cupertino to Corvallis to Singapore to Melbourne to San Diego: Are We There Yet? The ups and downs (and hopefully up again) of HP handheld calculators Jake Schwartz HP calculator user since 1971: HP9810 →9100A/B →9830 →9825 →9845 Also HP35 →25 →67 →41 →71/75 →28/48/49/50)

2. Our Group:Compelled to Be Here Mr. Lacombe: This means something. These people have come from all over their country….to a place they have been told will endanger their lives…why? (They show samples of the many drawings the people made) Mr. Lacombe: This is a small group of people….who have shared a vision in common. (Mr. Lacombe raises the blinds and shows what’s outside) Mr. Lacombe: It’s still a mystery why they are here….even they do not know why….I believe that for every one of these anxious, anguished people who have come here this evening….there must be hundreds of others also touched by the implanted vision who never made it this far….or perhaps they watched it but never made the psychic connection. Major Walsh: It’s a coincidence…it’s not scientific. Mr. Lacombe: Listen to me, Major Walsh…it is an “event sociological”.

3. An Outsider’s View of the Development Cycle Both of these used to be within HP Legacy guidelines Plus new ideas Communicate design and specs to manufacturer Manufacture Design machine Customer feedback Marketing & publicity Hire more designers Ship product Sell some units Make some money

4. The Eternal Struggle • Style vs. Substance • Marketing vs. Engineering • Cost vs. Feature Set • Profit vs. Technical Excellence • Rebadged vs. Original design • Novice vs. Expert • Student vs. Professional • Inexpensive vs. Expensive • Cheaply made vs. Reliably made

5. Considerations and Trade-offs • Display size vs. readability • Number of keyboard keys vs. function clutter & function menus • Machine thickness and power source • Keystroke counts and customizability • Programming features • Memory size and practicality • External devices: printers, memory plug-ins, I/O • Retail cost

6. 1988-1991 2004 2007 Change away from wide ENTER key …and return hp 33s hp 35s HP32SII

7. 1990 2003 2007 Change away from wide ENTER key …and return hp 17bII+ hp 17bII+ revised HP17BII

8. 1972-1998 1999-present 2006 Change away from wide ENTER key …and NO return HP 49G hp 50g HP48G+

9. 1974-1983 1990-present 2001-2007 Change away from keys with functions on the front …and return HP41CX HP48SX hp 35s

10. Change away from keys with functions on the front …and return hp 17bII+ HP17BII HP10BII HP10B

11. Calculator Color Schemes: Fad or Feature? 32SII 6S 30S

12. The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – Phase One 1974 - 1989

13. The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – Phase Two 1986 - present Clamshell 4-line Pioneer 1-line, 2-line & followons Charlemagne 8-line, 10-line & Student

14. The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys - Lineage HP65 (APD) HP67 HP41 Series HP41C HP41CV HP41CX (CVD) Clamshell Models HP18C HP28C HP28S HP19B HP19BII Pioneer Models HP27S HP17B HP42S HP32S HP17BII HP32SII hp33s hp17bII+ hp35s hp17bII+ revised Charlemagne Models HP48 S Series HP48 G Series HP49 Series hp 50g Student Models HP38G HP39G HP40G hp39g+ hp39gs hp40gs (Singapore) (ACO) (S.D.)

15. The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – What Happened?

16. The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – It Could Be Fixed 1. Do it like the 32SII: label the keys in top LCD row and use arrow characters in bottom LCD row to point to the soft keys • Do it like the 42S: display X-register in • top LCD row and soft-key menu in bottom • LCD row In either case, the “up/down” arrow annunciator could indicate that more menu pages are available.

17. 35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 1 of 6

18. 35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 2 of 6

19. 35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 3 of 6

20. 35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 4 of 6

21. 35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 5 of 6

22. 35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 6 of 6

23. Overlays For Fully Redefinable Keyboards – or Not

24. ALPHA Keys: Full Keyboard or Soft-Key Menu? 1 keystroke per letter 2 keystrokes per letter 1 keystroke per letter

25. Base Conversion & Base Arithmetic Capability HP16C HP41CX HP48SX hp 50g The “pinnacle” (1981) Reduced capability, Even with Advantage ROM (1983) Better than 41, But not as good As 16C (1990) No change from HP48 Series (2006)

26. The Prognosis • The ENTER key is getting WIDE again (perhaps on the high end too, pretty please?) • Key fronts are getting labels, reducing keyboard clutter • Reliability and key feel is being stressed again • LCDs are very readable • Color schemes are getting more sensible • Machine capabilities are being designed at HP again • More can be done in the area of scientific functionality – adding features which help professionals but don’t confuse students is a win-win • The future is still looking bright

27. Can We Return To The Excitement From The Heyday?

28. Examples ofSuperior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - I • C-Band Analog Satellite Dish / Receiver (early 1980s onward) • Pros: • Many competing service providers • A la carte service available • Cheaper than cable • Stunning picture quality • Multiple sources of same material • Cons: • Large (usually >7 ft) • Expensive equipment cost ($4K) • Requires large view to the sky for disk to swing between east and west

29. Examples ofSuperior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - II • Digital Audio Tape (mid 1980s onward) • Consumer all-digital tape medium • Equal to or greater quality as CD audio • Compact size • Potential long tape lengths (>= 3 hrs) • Remains a recording-studio staple

30. Examples ofSuperior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - III • Laserdisks (1980s onward) • Higher quality than consumer videotape formats • Random access • Usually came with supplementary material • Only held 30-60 min. per side • As large as LPs, fairly expensive • DVDs had significant advantages

31. Examples ofSuperior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - IV • Auto In-Dash Hard-Drive Based Audio Players (~2000 onward) • Very high capacity storage • Fits in DIN-size radio enclosure • Random access, playlist enabled, tuner, etc. • Comes out of dashboard in order to load song files • Expensive (>$1K) • Original U.K. company “Empeg” bought out by Rio, then Rio killed the product

32. Examples ofSuperior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - V • Dataplay Disks (early 2000s) • Portable, reliable, cost much lower than memory cards • Perfect medium for digital images and digital music • Prerecorded albums began to appear • Density was rising from 500 MB • They ran out of funds after the significant financial backers (Samsung, Toshiba) pulled away

33. Examples ofSuperior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - VI • Others: • Betamax videotape format • IBM OS/2 Operating System • Apple Macintosh computers (still hanging in there) • HP 71B Were these • HP-IL due to inferior • HP 42S marketing?

34. Final Thoughts: The hp35s Press Release: Retro??