Cupertino to Corvallis to Singapore to Melbourne to
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: HP 9810 → 9100 A/B → 9830 → 9825 → 9845 Also HP 35 → 25 → 67 → 41 → 71/75 → 28/48/49/50)
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”.
An Outsider’s View of the Development Cycle Both of these used to be within HP Legacy guidelines Plus new ideas Design machine Communicate design and specs to manufacturer Manufacture Customer feedback Hire more designers Make some money Marketing & publicity Ship product Sell some units
The Eternal Struggle • Style • Marketing • Cost • Profit • Rebadged • Novice • Student • Inexpensive • Cheaply made vs. vs. vs. Substance Engineering Feature Set Technical Excellence Original design Expert Professional Expensive Reliably made
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
Change away from wide ENTER key …and return 1988 -1991 HP 32 SII 2004 2007 hp 33 s hp 35 s
Change away from wide ENTER key …and return 1990 2003 HP 17 BII hp 17 b. II+ 2007 hp 17 b. II+ revised
Change away from wide ENTER key …and NO return 1972 -1998 HP 48 G+ 1999 -present 2006 HP 49 G hp 50 g
Change away from keys with functions on the front …and return 1974 -1983 1990 -present 2001 -2007 HP 41 CX HP 48 SX hp 35 s
Change away from keys with functions on the front …and return HP 10 BII HP 17 BII hp 17 b. II+
Calculator Color Schemes: Fad or Feature? 32 SII 6 S 30 S
The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – Phase One 1974 - 1989
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
The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys - Lineage HP 65 (APD) HP 67 HP 41 Series HP 41 CV HP 41 CX (CVD) Clamshell Models HP 18 C HP 28 S HP 19 BII Charlemagne Models HP 48 S Series HP 48 G Series Student Models (Singapore) HP 38 G HP 39 G (ACO) HP 40 G hp 39 g+ hp 39 gs (S. D. ) hp 40 gs Pioneer Models HP 27 S HP 17 B HP 42 S HP 32 S HP 17 BII HP 32 SII HP 49 Series hp 50 g hp 33 s hp 17 b. II+ hp 35 s hp 17 b. II+ revised
The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – What Happened?
The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – It Could Be Fixed 1. Do it like the 32 SII: label the keys in top LCD row and use arrow characters in bottom LCD row to point to the soft keys 2. 3. 4. Do it like the 42 S: 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.
35 s Proposed Soft Key Menus 1 of 6
35 s Proposed Soft Key Menus 2 of 6
35 s Proposed Soft Key Menus 3 of 6
35 s Proposed Soft Key Menus 4 of 6
35 s Proposed Soft Key Menus 5 of 6
35 s Proposed Soft Key Menus 6 of 6
Overlays For Fully Redefinable Keyboards – or Not
ALPHA Keys: Full Keyboard or Soft-Key Menu? 1 keystroke per letter 2 keystrokes per letter 1 keystroke per letter
Base Conversion & Base Arithmetic Capability HP 16 C HP 41 CX HP 48 SX hp 50 g The “pinnacle” (1981) Reduced capability, Even with Advantage ROM (1983) Better than 41, But not as good As 16 C (1990) No change from HP 48 Series (2006)
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
Can We Return To The Excitement From The Heyday?
Examples of Superior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - I C-Band Analog Satellite Dish / Receiver (early 1980 s 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 ($4 K) • Requires large view to the sky for disk to swing between east and west
Examples of Superior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - II Digital Audio Tape (mid 1980 s 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
Examples of Superior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - III Laserdisks (1980 s 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
Examples of Superior 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 (>$1 K) • Original U. K. company “Empeg” bought out by Rio, then Rio killed the product
Examples of Superior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - V Dataplay Disks (early 2000 s) • 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
Examples of Superior Technology Which Faltered in the Marketplace - VI Others: • Betamax videotape format • IBM OS/2 Operating System • Apple Macintosh computers (still hanging in there) • HP 71 B Were these • HP-IL due to inferior • HP 42 S marketing?
Final Thoughts: The hp 35 s Press Release: Retro? ?
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