Philippe Kahn
Born (1952-03-16) March 16, 1952 (age 60)[1][2][3]
Paris, France
Occupation Inventor, Entrepreneur

Philippe Kahn (born March 16, 1952)[4] is a technology innovator and entrepreneur, who is credited with creating the first camera phone sharing pictures instantly on public networks.[5] Kahn has founded four technology companies: Fullpower Technologies, Starfish Software, LightSurf Technologies and Borland.

Contents

Early life and education [link]

Kahn grew up in Paris, France, born to Jewish immigrants of modest means. His mother was an Auschwitz survivor, his father a mechanical engineer with a Socialist bent.[6]

Kahn was educated in mathematics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland (Swiss Federal Polytechnic Institute), and University of Nice, France. He received a masters in mathematics. He also majored in musicology and classical flute at the Zurich Music Conservatory in Switzerland. As a student, Kahn developed software for the MICRAL, the earliest non-kit personal computer based on a microprocessor. The MICRAL is now credited by the Computer History Museum as the first ever microprocessor-based personal computer.

Personal life [link]

Kahn is married to Sonia Lee, who co-founded Fullpower Technologies, LightSurf and Starfish Software, and with whom he has a daughter. Kahn has three other children from a prior marriage.

Technology [link]

Philippe Kahn Working on the first camera-phones
June 11th, 1997, Santa Cruz, CA: Image taken by Philippe Kahn after his daughter's birth.
July 1st, 2010, Double Jeopardy Question

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) [link]

Fullpower, founded in 2003 and focused on the convergence of life sciences, wireless technology, accelerometrics, nanotechnology and Microelectromechanical systems, is well known for its MotionX Technology Platform.

First introduced publicly with the launch of Apple's App Store in July 2008,[7] the MotionX Technology Platform provides the underlying technology for the leading Navigation and Fitness Applications on the App Store. These include:

  • MotionX-GPS for the iPhone, the universal outdoors sports and navigation GPS solution launched in October 2008.
  • MotionX-GPS Drive for the iPhone, the leading door-to-door pedestrian and driving navigation application launched in September 2009.
  • MotionX-GPS HD and MotionX-GPS Drive HD, MotionX's Navigation solutions optimized for the iPad, launched in May 2010.
  • Nike+ GPS, launched in September 2010, the leading fitness application on the iPhone and iPod Touch. MotionX provides the underlying technology for the Nike+ GPS Application. "We took great care in evaluating sensing technologies and found the MotionX Technology Platform to be superior," said Stefan Olander, Vice President of Digital Sport at Nike.[8]

As of May 2010, Fullpower announced over 5 million MotionX users worldwide.[9] Fullpower's MotionX Technology Platform has applications in renewable energy, mobile devices, wearable devices, imaging, sports, gaming, life-sciences, logistics and security solutions.

In September 2011 the Jawbone-UP band, powered by MotionX technology, was announced.

LightSurf Technologies (1997-2005) [link]

Kahn is credited with creating the camera phone in 1997.[10] The impetus for this invention was the birth of Kahn's child, Sophie; he jury-rigged a cell phone with a digital camera and sent off photos in real time.[11][12][13]

Starfish Software (1994-1998) [link]

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. Motorola sold the business to Pumatech (Intellisync) in 2003 and subsequently became a division of Nokia after it acquired Intellisync in 2006. Today Starfish's technology is an integral part of the Nokia platform[citation needed].

Borland (1982-1995) [link]

Kahn was Co-founder and CEO of Borland from 1982 to 1994, when Borland was a competitor of Microsoft. Kahn was President, CEO, and Chairman of Borland since inception and, without venture capital, took Borland from no revenues to a $500 million run-rate. Kahn and the Borland board came to a disagreement on how to focus the company and in January 1995, Kahn was forced by the board to resign from his position as CEO.[14] When Borland was acquired by Micro Focus on May 6, 2009, the San Jose Mercury News reported that Kahn "called the deal a 'great fit and synergism for both companies and excellent outcome for employees, customers and shareholders.'"[15]

Sailing and sports [link]

Kahn's focus on the environment and the outdoors lead him to the sport of sailing. Kahn's sailing team, Pegasus Racing,[16] competes in many world championships each year around the world.[17] An offshore sailor with over 10 trans-Pacific crossings, Kahn holds the double handed record from San Francisco to Oahu, Hawaii.[18] Recent sailing achievements also include winning the double handed division of the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race race from Los Angeles to Hawaii, and setting the Transpac record at 7 days, 19 hours, beating the previous time of 10 days, 4 hours.[19]

References [link]

Notes
  1. ^ Harry Henderson (2003). A to Z of computer scientists. Infobase Publishing. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-8160-4531-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=pNmm_Axdor8C&pg=PA127. Retrieved 14 January 2012. 
  2. ^ Lewis, Peter H. (August 18, 1991). "The Executive Computer; Philippe Kahn of Borland, in His Own Words". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/18/business/the-executive-computer-philippe-kahn-of-borland-in-his-own-words.html. Retrieved 16 January 2012. 
  3. ^ Parks, Bob (October 2000). "The Big Picture". Wired Magazine. https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.10/kahn.html. Retrieved 7 February 2012. 
  4. ^ Darrow, Barbara (November 10, 1999). "Phillipe Kahn". CRN (Computer Reseller News). https://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/18810982/phillipe-kahn.htm. Retrieved 19 February 2012. 
  5. ^ iPhoneographers learn from the pros at 1197 conference.- By Alexandra Chang (Posted Monday, Oct. 24th, 2011, at 5:30 AM )Macworld.com
  6. ^ Weber, Jonathan (February 23, 1992). "Kahn the Barbarian". Los Angeles Times. https://articles.latimes.com/print/1992-02-23/business/fi-5118_1_borland-international-chairman-philippe-kahn. Retrieved February 7, 2012. 
  7. ^ Marketwire Press Release
  8. ^ Fullpower-MotionX Teams with Nike for Nike+ GPS
  9. ^ Fullpower Introduces MotionX-GPS HD for the iPad
  10. ^ Paul Carroll; Chunka Mui (2008-11-01). Billion dollar lessons. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-59184-219-4. https://books.google.com/?id=pMlFFHodzqsC. 
  11. ^ Kahn, NPR interview
  12. ^ When camera phones attack.- By Michael Agger(Posted Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007, at 6:21 PM ET)Slate Magazine
  13. ^ Robert Sullivan (2011). 100 Photographs That Changed The World. LIFE Books. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-60320-176-6. 
  14. ^ Kellner, Krey, Jeffers, Parks
  15. ^ San Jose Mercury News
  16. ^ Philippe Kahn and Pegasus Racing, Racing Sailboats Worldwide
  17. ^ www.pegasus.com
  18. ^ Transpacific Yacht Race - The perfect ride? - By Kimball Livingston, 7:40 AM on Thu May 19 2011
  19. ^ Transpac 2007 had everything but wind, Trans Pacific Yacht Club press release[dead link]
Bibliography


External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Philippe Kahn
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Famous quotes by Philippe Kahn:

"Absolutely awesome sailing today. These conditions are perfect for the Melges because you get up on a plane and just take off."
"There is a lot of talent in this fleet and any of the participants can win. It will be real tight racing and our goal is to sail to our best potential."
"These are great boats, with very tight racing and lots of talent. We've found the Pegasus 52 to be a tremendous performer offshore and inshore. It's essentially a perfect racing yacht."
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