Singaporean inventor and tech pioneer Sim Wong Hoo handed away on January 4th on the age of 67. Sim is probably not a family title today, however he based Creative Technology (or Creative Labs within the US), the corporate behind the Sound Blaster model of sound playing cards, again in 1981. Sound Blasters had been a number of the first sound playing cards accessible to shoppers, and there was a time once you had to verify your system labored with them when you wished to take heed to music and play video games.
Sim established his enterprise within the US and began promoting Sound Blasters a number of years later, after which Creative turned the primary Singaporean firm to be listed on the Nasdaq change. The integration of sound boards into the motherboard ended Sound Blaster’s reputation, however Bloomberg says the playing cards supplied audio for greater than 400 million PCs.
Under his management, Creative additionally launched a spread of MP3 gamers, and Sim as soon as tried to tackle Apple by spending $100 million on promoting and advertising and marketing in its bid to dethrone the iPod. In 2006, Creative sued Apple for violating its patent for moveable media system menus. The firms filed extra lawsuits in opposition to one another after that earlier than Apple settled with Creative and paid the corporate $100 million for the expertise outlined in its patent.
Creative confirmed Sim’s passing on its web site, calling him “a visionary, inventor, and entrepreneur who gave the PC a voice.” In a press launch revealed by the corporate, interim CEO Song Siow Hui stated in an announcement:
“I have known and worked with Mr. Sim for over 30 years. This is a sad and sudden development and we feel a great loss especially since Mr. Sim and I recently had extensive discussions on the future direction of the Company. During those discussions, Mr. Sim was full of fresh vision. Even on the night before, he had a long discussion with the Engineering team and was scheduled to meet with the Online Sales team the next day. The best thing to do now is to ensure the continued smooth running of the Company, and also to execute and realise the vision and strategy that Mr. Sim had for the Company.”
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