When the co-founders of the revived Palm brand needed a hand with their ground-breaking new device, they drafted one of the NBAs most relatable stars. An exclusive look at the making of a rookie product.
Stephen Curry slides the gadget onto his arm. Encased in a spandex sleeve, it goes up past the New Testament quote tattooed on his right wrist—“Love never fails,” in Hebrew—and lands on his forearm below the short sleeve of his gray linen shirt. Curry breaks into an approving grin. “I can see I’m going to wear this when the time is right,” he says of the accessory. He’s gotten into road cycling lately, and he exuberantly mimes the act of glancing at the device while chugging from a water bottle.
Dennis Miloseski and Howard Nuk smile, too. The Silicon Valley design veterans, who look the part with neatly trimmed beards and head-to-toe black wardrobes, have invited Curry to their San Francisco office on this July afternoon to solicit his opinion. Curry isn’t merely a one-man focus group; the Golden State Warriors point guard and two-time NBA MVP is an investor in Palm, the company they co-founded. Besides capital, he’s providing them with advice and—as Palm’s public face—promotional value, which might be worth millions in itself.
Hold on—Palm? The once-mighty, now-defunct maker of the pioneering 1990s personal digital assistants and, later, smart phones? Not exactly. This is a brand-new startup, which has borrowed the original company’s name and at least some of its ethos. Its debut product, the device Curry has affixed to himself, is itself known as the Palm. It resembles a smartphone, makes calls, and runs Android apps, but it’s remarkably diminutive—more like a few stacked credit cards than the Hershey bar–size handsets of today.
Bu hikaye Fast Company dergisinin November 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Fast Company dergisinin November 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
How's This for a Cliffhanger?
That poor henchman over there has a hammer stuck in his forehead.
CREATOR ECONOMY
Carpe DM New platforms monetize intimate\" bonds between creators and their fans.
MEDIA
Inside Cesar's Palace NBCUniversal News chairman Cesar Conde's empire was rocked by a recent revolt.
CULTURE WARS
IN 2013, RODZ AND GORE FOUND themselves chatting in a tent in the wilds of northern Utah, attendees at a conference at which guests reportedly paid up to $12,000 to do yoga, fish, and kibitz with fellow entrepreneurs, would-be investors, and the author and psychotherapist Esther Perel.
CULTURE WARS
Tipping Point Stephen Miller's nonprofit is suing a startup over racial discrimination. The diversity of American business is at stake.
WORK LIFE
Nancy Reyes, CEO of the Americas at BBDO, answers our career questionnaire.
POLITICS
The Color of Money ActBlue has become the default fundraising machine for the Democratic Party. Here's why that's dangerous.
PODCASTING
The \"Great Men\" Theory of Podcasting Listen up, the 21stcentury frontiersmen are talking—a lot.
WORLD CHANGING IDEAS
FROM THE TINY SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND OF NIUE то THE BUSTLING STREETS OF PARIS, FROM GUINEA TO SAN FRANCISCO, PEOPLE ARE DEVISING SOLUTIONS TO THE WORLD'S GREATEST CHALLENGES.
THE PERPLEXITY EFFECT
WHEN YOU GOOGLE THE TERM \"PERPLEXITY AI,\" YOU GET A FAMILIAR-LOOKING RESPONSE: A LINK TO THE COMPANY'S WEBSITE FOLLOWED BY FOUR OTHER RELATED POPULAR QUERIES, A HANDFUL OF PUBLISHED ARTICLES, RELATED SEARCHES, AND AN ENDLESS SCROLL OF LINKS THAT IF PRINTED OUT MIGHT EXTEND FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO AUSTIN.