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 SchwartzHP calculator user since 1971:

HP9810 →9100A/B →9830 →9825 →9845

Also HP35 →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

Design machine

Sell some unitsMake some money

Customer feedback

Ship product

Manufacture

Communicate designand specs to manufacturer

Hire moredesigners

Legacy guidelinesPlus new ideas

Marketing& publicity

Both of these used to be within HP

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

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 2004 2007

HP32SII hp 35shp 33s

Change away from wide ENTER key …and return

1990 2003 2007

HP17BII hp 17bII+ revisedhp 17bII+

Change away from wide ENTER key …and NO return

1972-1998 1999-present 2006

HP48G+ hp 50gHP 49G

Change away from keys with functions on the front …and return

1974-1983 1990-present 2001-2007

HP41CX HP48SX hp 35s

Change away from keys with functions on the front …and return

HP10B HP17BII hp 17bII+HP10BII

Calculator Color Schemes: Fad or Feature?

30S

32SII

6S

The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – Phase One1974 - 1989

The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – Phase Two

Clamshell 4-line

Pioneer 1-line,2-line & followons

Charlemagne8-line, 10-line& Student

1986 - present

The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys - Lineage

HP67

HP41 Series HP41C HP41CV HP41CX

HP65

Clamshell Models HP18C HP28C HP28S HP19B HP19BII

Pioneer ModelsHP27S HP17BHP42SHP32S HP17BII

HP32SII

hp33s hp17bII+

hp35s hp17bII+ revised

Charlemagne ModelsHP48 S SeriesHP48 G Series

HP49 Series

hp 50g

Student ModelsHP38GHP39GHP40Ghp39g+hp39gshp40gs

(APD)

(CVD)

(Singapore)

(ACO)

(S.D.)

The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – What Happened?

The Redefinable Top Row of Calculator Keys – It Could Be Fixed1. Do it like the 32SII: label the keys in top LCD row and use arrow characters in bottom LCDrow to point to the soft keys

2. 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.

35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 1 of 6

35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 2 of 6

35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 3 of 6

35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 4 of 6

35s Proposed Soft Key Menus 5 of 6

35s 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

The “pinnacle” (1981)

Reduced capability, Even with Advantage ROM (1983)

Better than 41, But not as goodAs 16C (1990)

No change fromHP48 Series (2006)

HP16C hp 50gHP48SXHP41CX

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 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

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

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

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

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

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?

Final Thoughts: The hp35s Press Release: Retro??