# Philippe Kahn

Philippe Kahn (born 16 March 1952) Inventor of the camera phone, CEO of Fullpower, Founder of Starfish Software, Lightsurf technologies, Borland, and the Lee-Kahn Foundation. Author of dozens of technology patents, Kahn is one of the most prolific innovators in the high tech industry.

## Quotes

* We’re operating a huge sleep experiment, worldwide, unlike anything anyone has ever done. We have 250 million nights of sleep in our database, and we’re using all the latest technologies to make sense of it.
** Fortune, June 29th, 2015, regarding the focus that Fullpower Technologies has on gathering and understanding sleep data.
* A watch is much more than a list of functionality and features... the bottom line is this is fashion, this is image, this something that is on our skin that we want to wear, and it’s not just another electronic gadget that becomes obsolete…. there is an emotional character to it.
** The Growth Show podcast, April 15th, 2015, regarding why some smartwatches to date have failed.
* We're trying to change the Kleenex mentality of technology - you buy a smartband or an Android Wear watch and next year you'll throw it away. This is a horrible world we're preparing for the next generation. We have to get away from that crazy approach, as we look at the resources left on this planet. We need to be able to create objects that are worth keeping and upgrading.
** Wareable, April 7th, 2015.
* Sitting outside a cafe people watching would be no fun if everyone looks the same. It would be an Orwellian world where everyone wears the same thing and uses the same phone. Wearable tech is diversity.
** Wareable, April 7th, 2015.
* We were trying to monitor the sailboat, trying to help us keep it upright and optimized, and it turned out that sailing became an incredible practical laboratory.
** http://www.wired.com/2013/07/sailor-philippe-kahn/ Wired July 12th, 2013, on how his passion for sailing inspired the creation of some MotionX sensors].
* If a sleep monitor has electrodes and wires that look like something from Frankenstein's lab, you might not wear it consistently, and the information it gathers and reports may be compromised.
** Scientific American June 18th, 2013, regarding the need for noninvasive wearable devices.
* Great fit and synergism for both companies and excellent outcome for employees, customers and shareholders.
** San Jose Mercury News May 6th 2009, regarding the Sale of Borland to Micro Focus.
* Accelerometrics is a cool new discipline. Newton and Galileo would love it.
** MarketWire Press Release, July 2008.
* I build things that I think are exciting from a technology standpoint and will help make life easier, simpler and better for people.
** Investor's Business Daily March 2007, regarding technology and the future.
* I'd gone to the Lamaze classes, and the second time I said, 'Breathe!' Sonia said, 'Shut up!' So I said, 'OK, I'll sit at this desk and find something to do.
** USA Today interview January 2007, regarding the birth of the camera phone.
* Camera-Phones are at the root of the Citizen-Journalism revolution.
** NPR Interview January 2007, regarding the use of camera phones in citizen-journalism.
* Camera-phones are like nuclear power plants: bad people will turn them into evil, good people will put them to good use.
** NPR Interview January 2007, regarding current uses of the camera phone.
* There is no greater goal than to truly improve Mr and Ms Everyone's health, as an innovator that is where I want to spend my energy.
** NPR Interview January 2007, regarding innovative uses of the camera phone.
* Trying to solve the worlds problems by making things 5% more efficient is like trying to play the violin with gardening gloves. Not much good will come out of it. We must invent new ways!
** On why saving a bit of power here or there will not solve our energy problems. Comments made at the opening of the movie "An Inconvenient Truth.
* I am surprised at all the people in the high-tech industry focused on "making money"… If that's all they want to do, they should have a $100 printing press in their basements and they will truly "make money." Instead, if we focus all that energy on innovation, we'll change the world for the best.
** Commencement speech for UCSC students 1996 | UCSC Press Release.

## External links

* Lee-Kahn Foundation