History
For many years, Dr. Gerpheide and Mr. O'Callaghan traveled in an attempt to convince makers of notebook computer to agree to use GlidePoint. Dr. Gerpheide recalls "We would often drive to the COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas and stay in a seedy hotel. There wasn't money for a booth at the show, so we carried our GlidePoint prototypes around the convention center making demonstrations to whoever was willing to watch. The early prototypes had a suitcase full of electronic circuits. I knew they could be shrunk into an integrated circuit, but we didn't have money for that either. So we were seeking a large leap of faith for a manufacturer to agree to use the technology. It was even worse because at that time most notebook computers were running DOS, which did not need a pointing device!"
In April 1994, Cirque adapted GlidePoint into an integrated circuit and began selling a retail GlidePoint touchpad. The first notebook computer containing GlidePoint appeared soon thereafter. GlidePoint technology was licensed to Alps Electric Corporation LTD, and ALPS launched touchpad products into the market.
Decisions to align itself so close to one OEM, ALPS Electric Corporation, of Japan, prevented the management team to effectively capitalize the company through an IPO, and resulted in the company being purchased at an undervaluation by ALPS in 2003, rendering the original innovator of touch technology to a secondary technology provider.
Read more about this topic: Cirque Corporation
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