PalmPilot Organizer Creators Secure Funding and Sign Licensing Agreement With 3Com; JD Technology Now Handspring, Inc

Business Wire, Nov 5, 1998

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 1998--Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins, the principals behind the development of the wildly popular PalmPilot(TM) handheld computer, have secured funding from leading venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Benchmark Capital. John Doerr will represent KPCB on the board of directors and Bruce Dunlevie, an early investor in Dubinsky and Hawkins' former company, Palm Computing, Inc., a 3Com company, will serve on the board representing Benchmark. The new company will be called Handspring, Inc.

Handspring will develop products focused on the consumer side of the handheld computing market. The company has secured a license for the Palm Computing(R) platform from 3Com Corporation, enabling the company to develop handheld products which will be compatible with the world's market-leading handheld platform, and which run the thousands of applications already developed for the Palm(TM) environment. Handspring expects to introduce products to the market at the end of next year.

"We are delighted that the Handspring team will be focusing their energy building products based on our market-leading Palm Computing platform," said Janice Roberts, 3Com senior vice president, business development, and acting president, Palm Computing. "The Palm platform is the standard in the handheld industry, and we are continuing to strategically license it to influential players who can help us extend our market position."

Jeff Hawkins will assume the role of chairman of the board and chief product officer and Donna Dubinsky will serve as president and chief executive officer of the new venture. Joining Dubinsky and Hawkins at the company is Ed Colligan, former vice president of marketing for the Palm Computing division of 3Com. Colligan becomes vice president of development and marketing at Handspring.

"We are pleased to get all the start-up issues like naming and funding behind us so we can focus on developing world-class products for the exploding handheld computing market," said Dubinsky. "Now the real work begins to build the team and create another success on the scale of the PalmPilot."

"We're thrilled to be backing the Handspring team," said John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "We missed the opportunity last time when this team sparked the handheld computing revolution. This is a rare second chance to lead the next generation of computing."

"Benchmark is delighted to be working again with the team that invented the handheld computing category," said Bruce Dunlevie, partner, Benchmark Capital. "We're confident Handspring will be a major player in consumer computing."

Handspring, Inc. will make its headquarters at 299 California Avenue, in Palo Alto, California.

Note to Editors: Handspring is a trademark of Handspring, Inc. 3Com and Palm Computing are registered trademarks, and PalmPilot and Palm are trademarks, of 3Com Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.